


Empty Horizon

by SCD07



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Family Angst, M/M, Merman Erwin, Naval Combat, Sea Monsters, Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Slow Build, Swordfighting, mentions of child abuse, pirate levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-04-04 17:11:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 58,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4145931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SCD07/pseuds/SCD07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Levi arguably has his priorities crossed, as his crew readily reminds him. He'd rather kill humans than animals and he sends cargo ships to the ocean floor so the vulnerable and destitute can have a meal in their stomachs. But he considers himself far from ever being a hero.</p><p>"Only villains survive and only monsters play in the sea."</p><p>When a storm arrives to his origin harbor, though, one of those monsters finds Levi, and the pirate captain who is so often in control, finds himself marked by the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let the Beasts Roar

**Author's Note:**

> Haha! Bet you didn't expect this so soon ;)  
> Thank all of you who responded to my Upcoming Eruri poll--you demanded a pirate!au so adamantly I just couldn't wait to give you the first chapter!
> 
> If you are actually new to my works, check out my completed story, [Anonymous](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3956662/chapters/8872096).
> 
> Or I've started a demon!au as well, [Soot](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8422822/chapters/19299829).
> 
> Enjoy!

“Captain!”

Levi cracked open a walnut and popped it into his mouth. His stormy blue gaze lazily turned to observe the ship growing larger on the horizon. Even from this distance, Levi could make out that it was a commercial galleon.

“Captain!” his quartermaster, Petra Ral, exclaimed again. “What is your order, sir?”

“What’s the crow say?” Levi countered, squinting up at the crow’s nest.

“Gunther said the flag bears the crossed scepter and key, Capt’n,” Petra informed.

The corner of Levi’s mouth lifted in a delighted smirk. “They’ll get close out of curiosity. King's men always try to remind us who their employer is. Do not open fire unless they raise alarm.”

“Aye, sir,” she confirmed before relaying the orders to the small crew. A heavy cloud passed over the sun, allowing Levi to peer up the thick mast of his ship, on which no flag soared. That, along with an obviously small crew aboard his man o’war, provided false security to many whom they came into contact with.

His attention jerked over the railing, where he observed several glistening, silver creatures breaching the surface of the ocean. He shouted up the stairs to the ship’s wheel, “Zoe! Porpoise pod on our starboard side! Steer clear!”

Hange Zoe, his surgeon and navigator eagerly wiped her calico belt over her spectacles to see over the side. “Wonderful! Let me just get my harpoon so I can study one—!”

“HANGE! We kill humans, not animals!” he bellowed.

His navigator obeyed by firmly gripping the ship’s wheel, but she rebuked, “Have you ever considered that your priorities are off, Captain Sassicrass?”

Levi removed his black tricorner hat, glad that the sun was disappearing behind an approaching storm but his patience with his navigator always wore thin about this time. They had been at see for a month, cruising and plundering along the coast, only stopping at poor harbors to distribute their earnings to the destitute. Now there was only this oncoming vessel and a few miles of ocean between him and a meal that wasn’t salted, and a bath he’d been praying for since he'd left.

_Boom._

Levi’s gaze tore at the sound right as water splashed near his ship’s bow. Petra silently looked to her captain for direction, to which he responded tranquilly, “Let the beasts roar.”

Petra’s soft smile contrasted the menace which made her Levi’s second in command. “Ready at your stations!” she ordered as she took her place behind a starboard canon.

Levi looked up, observing how the wind played with the calico bits of cloth that were tied to sections of rigging. “Hange!”

“Aye, aye! I see it!” she countered impatiently.

“Anchor! Port side!” Levi called, and saw his master gunner, Eld, obey instantly. The ship lurched to a halt and Hange used the wind to fill the sails, pivoting the vessel so they had a clear shot at the target, but were a smaller target themselves. Canons splashed loudly around them, and Levi’s gaze darted at the glistening flukes disappearing under the waves.

“CHAINS!” he bellowed. “Down their masts!”

The deck rumbled beneath his feet as his canons fired before being quickly reloaded with chained cannonballs. He saw them slice through some of the enemy vessel’s rigging before he strode up to his boatswain. “Oluo. How much artillery do we have left?”

“Enough for this one,” the man uttered, adjusting the bandana over his dirty blond hair. He jammed a crowbar under the lid of a crate to reveal more gunpowder and an assortment of artillery options. “You want a quick fuck or a slow and sweet one?” he quipped, tossing a bag of pellets into the air.

Levi suppressed his smirk. “Hard and fast, Oluo. You know how it’s done.”

A silver tooth glinted when the boatswain grinned and handed out gas bombs as well as regular canons. Within minutes, the central mast of the enemy vessel toppled into the sea with a thunderous crack. It’s sails were immediately sodden, dragging the massive log further under the surface and even tipping the hull on one side.

“Steady over the boards!” Levi called. “That mast goes under, the whole thing with rock you a lullaby to the sand below.”

Roars of “AYE, CAPT’N!” rang out as his crewmen swung via rope or lowered planks to board the other ship. Levi’s fingertips tapped a rhythm on the hilt of the kitchen knife on the left side of his belt, and the head of his tomahawk on the right. He trusted Petra to guide his comrades through the battle and back to safety. Hange maintained the stability of the ship or tended to the wounded when they were dragged back over, whereas Levi only entered the fray if the tide turned, or if the battle came to his ship.

Today, neither occurred, and through the haze of black powder and white gas, he heard the beginnings of a shanty as his crew transferred cargo to their stores. Oluo bound and gagged any crewmen who surrendered before storing them with the goods as well, and Levi hummed beneath the music of his crew as they came in sight of land, leaving a sinking wreck of splinters behind them.

When they arrived at the harbor, their hull bobbed harshly against the dock, causing Levi to turn a sharp glare at his navigator. “GENTLY!”

She threw up her hands defensively at him as she descended to the main deck. “We can’t all have your unrealistically high standards!”

“If there are any planks damaged, you’re replacing and pitching them before next sail,” he warned. Levi gracefully placed a foot in front of her, causing Hange to trip in a show of flailing limbs. “Mind the boards,” he uttered darkly.

“You’re prating,” she retorted, hopping to her feet and totally unbothered. Levi was unceremoniously yanked by the neck into her embrace. “I’m absolutely _itching_ for something hot inside me.”

He elbowed her kidney and shoved her away so they could cross the gangplank and stride over the dock. “Keep your needs to yourself, you contagious twat,” he ordered.

Hange cackled. “I’m talking about a _drink,_ Captain--you!” she pointed at a random passerby. “Where’s the strongest liquor?”

The man blinked dumbly at her before pointing over his shoulder. “The _Bonny Horn_ may have what you seek.”

“Mmm,” she purred. “Sounds like they might.”

Levi rolled his yes, raking a hand through his salty, greasy hair. He already knew where he was headed and he expected a copper bath full of soap suds waiting for him—

“Gahuh!” he coughed as a petite woman crashed into him. “Isa—Isabel get off!”

“Yikes!” the red haired woman lurched backward. “You smell like a lusty dame after too many sailors had their way.”

“I feel about the same as one,” he quipped dryly. “I’m right on schedule. Where’s my bath?”

She scowled but he could see in her green eyes that she had missed him. “You're three days late! I've been here every day looking for you! Say hi and buy me a drink first, huh?”

“After I bathe,” he countered firmly. “I’m offending myself.”

She giggled and curled her arm with his elbow as they turned to meander toward the inn she and her brother, Farlan, managed. “How was your trip this time?”

“We have oranges,” he said by way of answering. Isabel’s expression lit up.

“Lemons too?”

His eyes were deadpan. “Nothing pleases you. Last time you demanded an earring, now it’s lemons.”

Isabel gave him a knowing stare. “I just want one like yours, like you gave Farlan,” she flicked the small, gold hoop in his cartilage. “Something to remember you by when you’re gone.”

“You do realize the only way you’ll wear this is if a hole punctures your ear?”

“No shit, Lev—wait…is that?” She gasped at the small, gold circlet pinched between his fingers before she nearly tackled him in the street. “Oh, Levi! I didn’t actually think you would!"

“I’ll buy you that drink and then I’ll pierce your ear for you,” he promised. “More than one, depending on where you wish to wear it.”

“Does the cartilage hurt?” she wondered, turning the earring over with her fingers.

“More than the lobe,” Levi confirmed, “but the pain is only a second. The healing takes longer.”

“Ha,” she scoffed, “like you will let it get infected. I’ve never known any man, let alone a _pirate,_ as meticulous as you.”

“You’re welcome,” he returned. “It’s the reason your shitty inn makes as much profit as it does.”

He peeked up at the sky when the first raindrop fell on his temple. He was saved from Isabel’s anger when he heard a high pitched, “Capt’n, Levi!”

“Fuck me with a wooden spoon,” he growled under his breath as a familiar boy with soft brown hair and eyes as turquoise as the sea came running through the crowd.

Isabel giggled. “That can be arranged.”

He glared at her and she rubbed his arm before going on ahead. “I’ll get that bath ready for you.”

“Capt’n Levi! Capt’n Levi!”

He sighed, _“Yes,_ Jaeger. What do you want?”

Those eyes widened like orbs, gazing up at Levi like a fucking hero; Levi cringed at the thought. “You remembered!”

Levi began to march forward, the boy eagerly on his heels. “How could I not when a brat like you hounds me every time I come to port?”

“Does that mean you’ll take me with you soon?” he jumped right to it. “You’re going to Master Kenny’s house right now, right? That book under your arm is your logs, right?”

Levi peered at the runty boy scampering to walk beside him but did not answer immediately. He didn’t have to since the boy kept talking.

“My sister wants to see you, you know! Armin too! Although he’s too scared to admit it or come to the harbor. Where’s your crew? They must be amazing to sail and fight with—”

“EREN!” Levi cried, yanking the kid by the scruff of his popper’s shirt out of the way of a cart so overloaded with melons that its driver would have mauled him and kept going without ever noticing. Eren was so small that Levi lifted the scruff high enough so his steel blue irises met watery green ones. Eren was gazing at him, wide-eyed. Levi had never raised his voice in front of him before; it was a staunch, self-imposed rule that he never did in front of children. He only raised his voice to his crew in order to be heard over the ocean and canon fire, or because they were being idiots.

“There’s a reason Anklet—”

“Armin?” Eren corrected.

“There’s a reason Armin is afraid of the harbor,” Levi tried to say patiently. “You were almost killed just ten seconds ago. You should grow out of being a brat, but be a kid as long as you can.”

He set Eren down by the edge of the bustling hubbub of the harbor, between a residential street and a dock where dinghies rowed out for leisurely fishing. Levi could feel sea spray on his cheek when a bit of water smacked against one of the lampposts. His eyes dropped to Eren’s bare feet. “What are you doing here?”

“I was waiting for you,” the boy replied like it was obvious.

Levi rubbed circles over his eyelids and responded, “Please tell me without lying that you don’t come here everyday hoping to see me.”

“You’re not the only pirate who ports here,” Eren pointed out and Levi like felt a canon about to explode.

“Eren, you’re too small to be here. All it takes is one desperate or evil person to see you, and you’re shipped off to starve as cargo until someone buys you. Don’t ask me why they’d buy you,” he quickly added.

Levi’s gaze connected with the boy’s, and because those turquoise eyes grew solemn with comprehension, Levi felt like cutting out his own tongue as well as murdering every pedophiliac imbecile who visited this harbor. Levi knew the meaning of his warning when he was Eren’s age, but that didn’t mean Eren should. He should be busy kicking coconuts around with his sister and Armin, not mingling with pirates.

“But you’re different,” he said, as if reading Levi’s thoughts. “You won’t let them buy me.”

And then, there was that look, that deep adoration in his eyes which Levi had no idea when or where it had originated. One day the boy had locked eyes with Levi and had been either brave or stupid enough to approach, and along the way Levi had accidentally said something to garner the brat’s trust.

Levi knelt over the wood of the dock, becoming level with Eren. He propped his logbook on his knee and said, “Listen to me. You’re right, I wouldn’t let anyone take you or sell you. But I’m not here to keep you safe all the damn time. You have to be smart and safe while I’m gone, and being here is neither smart nor safe.”

Eren looked as if he was desperately trying to understand but also trying to find a hole in Levi’s argument. “You’re never gone long,” he procured. “So you’re never far from the coast. You keep our harbor safe.”

“That’s your first mistake,” Levi declared softly, unconsciously using his salt-stained handkerchief to clean the smudge of mud off Eren’s cheek. “Don’t trust me. Only villains survive and only monsters play in the sea, kid.”

Eren giggled, and Levi swore internally that the sound was what strawberries tasted like. He couldn’t remember ever having such innocence. He hated to think it would be destroyed in Eren someday.

“What makes you a monster?” Eren challenged. “You look regular to me—”

Levi lunged forward, snapping his teeth next to Eren’s ear, causing the boy to gasp loudly but freeze like a statue. Levi smoothly slipped a piece of chocolate out of his sleeve and into his mouth, so when he slowly faced Eren’s wide eyes, the candy was between his teeth. The boy’s long lashes flapped when he blinked and a smile carefully bloomed on his face once more as he plucked the chocolate right from Levi’s mouth. He unfolded the crinkly foil warily, as if to test if it was another trick, but when he saw the warm brown chunk, slightly molten from being in Levi’s sleeve, he eagerly devoured it.

Levi glanced at his dirty, scarred bare feet again, and picked Eren up like a book under his arm as he stood. “Hey wait!” the boy complained.

"How many times have I told you to bathe?” he demanded as he carried Eren down the street. “You might have barnacles growing in places, and the cobbler won’t let you anywhere near his shop in the state you’re in.”

“Cobbler?” Eren piped. “Why are we going to the cobbler’s?”

“To put shoes on your feet,” Levi snapped, and easily hoisted Eren up to sit on his shoulder with one hand. The boy was yammering about something nonsensical as Levi marched into Petra and Farlan’s establishment, _The Underground Inn._ Eren stopped talking as he gazed with awe around the adult business. It was originally Master Kenny’s and Levi was his first employee—his best employee. He’d enrolled Isabel and Farlan once they learned a hint of business as well as scandal, earning his right to freedom from the controlling businessman.

Therefore he knew exactly in which room Isabel had prepared his bath. The two floors above ground were rooms for let; the floor beneath was their private tavern, only available to regular, loyal customers.

Isabel was just finishing arranging towels in the room when Levi strode in and dumped Eren into the steaming bath. The boy came up sputtering and angry. “That was not nice! My feet hurt!”

“Because you have more cuts than you can count on them,” Levi retorted.

“Why is the kid in your bath?” Isabel inquired evenly. As competent as she was, Isabel was also lazy, and did not appreciate doing something twice, which was what Levi would have her do once Eren was clean and had his shoes.

“Because he needs it. Afterward, take him around the corner for shoes, some things that will last and he can grow into,” he commanded as he dropped several gold and silver coins in her hand.

“This won’t be enough,” she countered with one look over the money.

Levi was almost out the door, but turned back. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the cobbler’s increased his rates. He’s bloody cocky in his old age.”

“Then bargain him down,” Levi responded. “Tell him I’ll visit later today to check on his craftsmanship.”

Isabel knew what that meant, but Eren, who was languidly creating bubbles with the soap gazed at them with blissful ignorance.

Levi breezed down the stairs, all the way to the tavern, where Farlan was napping on the bar. Customers typically did not come in until supper, so his tricorner shielded his eyes from the candlelight until Levi tugged on his earlobe. The man flailed and barely managed to land on his feet before he rounded on Levi, ready to take his head off before he recognized who he was.

“LEVI!” he welcomed, clapping Levi’s back in a hug and then immediately holding him at arm’s distance. “You fucking _reek.”_

“I am aware,” he growled. “I’m off to deliver the reports,” he waved the logbook in the air.

“Thanks for seeing me,” Farlan nodded in understanding. “You’ll be in tonight for a drink, yeah?”

“Several,” Levi confirmed, trotting up the stairs.

He concealed his logbook under his coat now that it was officially raining and strode along the cobblestone avenue. Vividly green palms and scraggly moss adorned the roadside as he entered the lavish, albeit petite home of Kenny Ackerman without knocking. He’d known the man long enough to know where to hang his coat so it dripped over a bamboo mat, as well as where his salted and muddy boots went before he’d taken three steps inside the house. Next, he found the man with long, dark silver hair standing on his terra cotta terrace, watching the rain fall.

“I always know when it’s you,” he greeted gruffly, smoking a thin cigar. Raindrops bounced off the tiled railing and everywhere else the awning didn’t cover. “You’re the only one stupid enough to come in without knocking.”

Levi dropped the book onto the settee loud enough so Kenny knew what he had brought. “I know if you were going to kill me, you would have done it a while ago.”

The man pivoted to look at him, a thin, French braid starting from his temple and disappearing in his tresses to keep the hair off his face. Levi had taught him that, back when he was two feet smaller and had long hair of his own. His expert braids and knots were what attracted Kenny’s attention in the first place, and they were the only clues Levi had for years that the man even remotely liked him as more than a slave.

He noticed where Levi’s eyes went and hummed an acknowledgment. “The girl’s almost as good as you. Even better with some of the knots. Her…brother, or whatever she calls him is a fucking mess."

“So was I,” Levi agreed mutely.

Kenny gave him an odd grin around his thin cigar and gestured upward. “She’s on the ceiling, you know. Strange, whatever runs through our veins. Something about the rain…the sea. Do you have anything good for me?”

Levi crossed his arms and leaned against the terrace’s doorjamb. “More fruit than usual. Sailors are terrified of scurvy.”

Kenny was flipping through the book as he chuckled gruffly. “Because the royal navy does not teach them what a balanced meal is. How are those women in your crew?”

“Annoying and loyal as ever,” Levi muttered, his eyes distant.

Kenny peered up from the pages and studied his former apprentice, protégé, and quartermaster. “You need a cabin girl? Someone to clean your pots?”

“She can’t be that bad,” Levi returned his focus, reading through Kenny’s offer.

“How can she be?” he said sarcastically. “She hardly speaks. She misses you.”

“We’ve interacted once,” Levi combatted.

“That means nothing in our family,” he declared pointedly, because it was something Levi knew quite well. The Ackermans were…different.

“Why are you dumping her on me? Did you receive word from that place you dug her out of?”

“I’m merely suggesting you spend some quality time with _your_ sister…cousin…whatever the hell she might be. And no, you did a fine job wiping the existence of that place from any map. What was it they had planned for her that riled you?”

Levi’s eyes flickered with anger. Kenny was pushing him. “Trafficking.”

The man nodded as if remembering a simple dream. “Sexual slavery…you never did take well to that. You were practically a killer before I found you.”

“Before you bought me,” Levi reiterated darkly.

There was steel in Kenny’s matching irises as he reminded, “I don’t know why you’re complaining. No one ever touched you. You wouldn’t let them. You were free the moment your bony feet touched the deck of my ship. I let you believe otherwise because you needed discipline.”

Something moved across Levi’s back, the ghost of a feeling, a memory brushed across his shoulder blades and his eyelids dropped to half-mast as they always did when he was annoyed or unwilling to acknowledge pain. His eyes glazed over, his mind’s way of letting memories float past before his consciousness returned to deal with the present.

“What do you want?”

“For you to get on this roof and meet her again,” Kenny announced.

“Her first and only memory of me is not a pleasant one,” Levi countered.

“Oh, and living with me is just paradise,” Kenny sassed, the irony being how they really did live in a tropical dream. His expression calmed and he said evenly, “Get up there. That boy gives her a strange purpose in getting up every morning, but she needs someone who has a brain and a fucking idea of what this world holds guiding her. I’m too old and jaded for this child rearing nonsense. It’s a wonder you made it.”

“It’s debatable whether I really did,” Levi replied, his voice vacant, dead. But he stepped forward and into the rain, climbing first onto the railing and then gripping the edge of the roof, using his years of experience with rigging to nimbly maneuver onto the wet, sturdy roof. On the far side of it, sat a petite girl, no older than Eren, with long black hair as Levi’s once had, as well as Kenny’s, once upon a time. Levi wondered if he really needed a bath as the rain poured ever harder over his body, soaking him through.

Carefully sitting beside her, Levi made a point to keep enough space between them for her comfort. He looked sideways at her to find a crimson, calico scarf around her shoulders. She was watching him.

“Kenny didn’t give you that,” Levi stated, eyeing the cloth.

“No…Eren did,” she responded quietly. Levi did not let his surprise show on his face. The last time she’d looked at him, he was pulling her out of an iron-banded chest, his shirt entirely red with blood when it should have been white, before he transported her to this house. She’d never spoken a word to him. He knew Eren was likely the reason behind her recovery. The kid was lively and persistent in ways Ackermans were not, and it seemed to compliment her well.

Levi peered at her feet, finding them bare, but not dirty or scarred as Eren’s had been. “Eren’s getting shoes today. Is there anything you need?”

She gazed tranquilly back at him, but something moved behind her eyes. “Why would you do that for him?”

“Because his feet are hideous,” Levi answered honestly. He caught her examining her own small, pale feet. Levi’s were just as pale, except he wore marks similar to Eren’s scars on his. “I’m not saying you need anything. I’m just offering, should you want something while I’m here.”

“Are you going somewhere?” she asked.

Even though she was speaking, her voice sounded like a wisp; one of the wind’s voices he so often heard whistling through his sails.

“I will be, soon,” he confirmed.

After a moment, she replied, “How long?”

He was not sure whether she was asking how long he’d be in town or how long he’d be gone, but either way, his answer was the same: “I don’t know yet.”

“I think Eren goes to the harbor because of me,” she informed, her gaze directed over the rooftops of the city around them. “I don’t like a lot of people.”

_Welcome to the crew, kid,_ he nearly uttered, but instead he replied, “He would be the fool to do that…why would you want to go to the harbor?”

Her knees were drawn up against her chest, and she rested her mouth against her knees. “Why do you go out there?” she countered in a mumble.

“Unblock your mouth when you speak,” he commanded gently. “I don’t care if your voice shakes. If you have something to say, make my ears hear it.”

For a brief moment, she appeared as if she were being scolded, but she visibly absorbed his words and after another minute of reflection, said, “He goes looking for you, because I told him what you did. I don’t like people, so he goes and tells me when you’re back or not.”

“That explains it,” he said mostly to himself.

“Why do you go out there?” she repeated, looking at him fully now.

Levi could see the tips of furled sails and masts over the roofs and treetops. Just by looking, he knew which were his. He could still feel the ocean’s sway in his body, as if he were still out there. Land sickness never really left him whenever he returned here.

“Because the only people out there, are the people I placed on my ship; the people I trust and hold mutual respect with,” he explained. “So long as you mind the sea, she minds you. I find more company out there on an empty horizon than I ever do on land.”

They sat for several more minutes in silence, until Levi decided they had enough for their second meeting. Standing, he took a step before pausing. “You should spend your leisure time at _The Underground Inn._ The old man’s contagious.”

Whether she took that figuratively or literally, Levi didn’t care. Too much time with Kenny Ackerman made Levi Ackerman, and the world already had one of each. “Take care, Mikasa,” he said.

“I didn’t think you knew my name,” she uttered.

Halfway across the roof, he glanced over his shoulder. “Do you know mine?”

“Levi,” she confirmed, and then her features showed the most expression they had during their entire conversation: shocked confusion.

“Curious how we know,” he uttered, vanishing over the edge.

Kenny was nowhere to be found as he donned his boots, coat, and left the house. The bell on the cobbler’s door chimed and Levi arrived just in time to see little Eren poised on a seat with Isabel behind him, watching the shrewd old man with keen eyes.

“Capt’n Levi!” Eren piped in his typical way.

The cobbler froze, peering over his shoulder. Levi could hear his teeth grinding together as he acknowledged, _“Captain._ Hold still!”

Eren only stopped squirming when Levi passed by, brushing a hand over the boy’s damp brown tresses. Isabel bumped her shoulder against his. “Oluo came by. Said the cargo was taken care of.”

She peered at him inquiringly. He tersely replied, “Fine.”

“More than oranges?” she prompted.

“Not lemons,” he returned with finality.

She huffed an exasperated sigh. “Secrets, secrets.”

The truth was anticlimactic: Oluo dealt with the captives from their plunders, usually intimidating them into silence, or letting them join their fallen brethren if they put up a fight. But telling Isabel would lead to a discussion he did not want to have with her; it was bad enough having Kenny shove it down his throat.

“I can have these finished tomorrow morning,” the cobbler announced, removing the sized soles and pinned coverings from Eren’s feet.

“You will finish them now,” Levi reiterated, meeting the man’s anger with a cold stare.

“They will be poorer quality if I am rushed,” he insisted.

“You won’t have the time to sneak tacks into the soles,” Levi rebuked.

Resigned and grinding his teeth flat, the cobbler hunched over his worktable, softening the leather and sewing it into place. He startled when Levi demanded, “Lefts and rights.”

“There’s no such thing!” the man declared haughtily.

“Cheap cobblers make the same boot every time,” Isabel seconded. “We’re not paying for the boy to painfully wear in the boots to mold to his feet. Make him a left and a right.”

His movements jarred with his frustration as he pulled out his stitches and softened fresh sheets of leather before cutting them to the appropriate size and shape for sewing in the form of a six year old foot.

Finally, Eren pulled on his new boots eagerly, chattering about how all he needed was a coat that was a size too big, and he’d match Levi. Isabel snorted back a laugh, her eyes wandering over the coat that was too wide in Levi’s shoulders, fell to his mid-thigh, and might have been navy blue once, but was now faded white in some places and stained black in others.

Isabel paid the shoemaker and Levi sent Eren home. Night was coming, and it’d be pitch black with the storm. Levi reclined in the fresh bath Isabel made for him, crunching on slices of cucumber and relishing the tingle of soap working into his crevasses. He languidly brushed a misshapen sponge across his body, cleaning between his toes, up his leg, and inside the interior of his thigh. The soft, malleable material brushed his groin, and the delicate pores of the sponge aroused a lost ache. Levi felt soap suds in his hair as he carded his fingers over his scalp, pulling gently as the sponge moved between his cheeks and back up over his growing erection.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Levi startled, causing the water to twitter and lap at the walls of the copper tub. He sighed heavily, letting the sponge float away. “Yes, Isabel?”

“Farlan sent up a whiskey!” she called through the wood.

Levi slid back, submerging himself beneath the surface to remove the last of the soap from his hair. “Keep it over a flame. I’ll be down in a minute.”

He listened to her treads fade in the distance as he dried off and dressed in fresh raiment: breeches that stopped at his knees and a black shirt open at the collar. He donned a pair of soft leather sandals to avoid splinters on the stairs as well as the grit of dirt and spilled alcohol on the stone floor of the tavern.

Farlan saw him and removed the glass of whiskey from the stand under which a candle flickered; a slice of lemon and ginger floated on the surface. “Welcome home, Captain,” he greeted. Levi stretched his fingers over the surface of the glass, holding the lemon and ginger aside as he drank a slow, long draft. The burn registered first on his tongue, then the flavor threaded with citrus and sweet ginger.

“Ye know we drink rum in these parts?” one of the bar patrons commented.

Another muttered, “I’s more wonderin’ why ye drink it hot. The sun no’ hot enough for ye? AH!”

Farlan reached across the bar, swatting his hands over the tops of the patrons' heads. “That’s your host, you filthy gnats. Show some respect.”

The patrons peered at Levi with fresh eyes. “The Capt’n?” they both exclaimed.

“Hmph, shorter than I’d like,” one concluded.

“Drinkin’ ginger an’ lemon…is you a pouf?” the other ventured.

Levi gave no reaction as he tranquilly sipped the last of his whiskey. Then he promptly bashed the glass against the first patron’s temple. Shards of glass glittered in his hair and collar as he slumped over the bar, unconscious. Levi met the shocked gaze of the man who’d accused him of being homosexual. “Are you offering?”

He’d never fuck the man in a thousand years, filthy and wretched as he was, but Levi appreciated the simultaneously frightened and disgusted look in the man’s eyes. Levi gave a barely perceptible nod toward the stairs. “Get out.”

The man’s eyes widened and then narrowed, “It’s rainin’!”

“Never bothered me,” Levi countered softly, and then hauled the man off his bar stool and up the stairs by the scruff and arm of his grime-soaked shirt. He kicked the back of the man’s knee so his legs buckled before he splashed over the sandy mud. “Come back when you’ve learned some manners.”

The patron indignantly climbed to his feet and got in Levi’s face. “I’s been payin’ this inn for thirteen years!”

“Doesn’t sound like you’ll be coming back,” Levi countered placidly.

The man blatantly sized Levi up, but his eyes locked on the long kitchen knife and hatchet on his belt, and his grey and yellow teeth grimaced. He sniffed wetly and plodded down the avenue.

Levi’s adrenaline evaporated and he became aware of a stinging pain in his hand. He flipped his palm up to see thin lacerations from the glass on his fingers and the knuckle of his forefinger.

The chiming bells of the harbor distracted his attention; the ships’ bells singing with the rocking of the storm. Among them was the unharmonious _gong_ of his own ship’s bell. Soaked anew, Levi meandered down the street with the pleasant purr of alcohol in his belly. Once he turned the corner, he saw that the harbor was uncharacteristically empty, the townsfolk fled for warmth and safety.

Except…

Levi’s eyes alighted on his ship and the fact that it was no longer anchored at the dock.

His feet sprinted over stone, wood, and then he dived lithely into the water. He felt his body ripple with the force of a wave but he cut easily through it, pumping his arms in one stroke, two, and then a wave conveniently slammed his body against the hull of his ship. He lost one of his sandals but he kicked the other off since his toes gripped the rungs better without it. The vessel rocked violently with the water, but Levi felt the currents in his blood and predicted the heaves so he climbed quickly and vaulted over the rail.

Four men were scurrying over the deck, and Levi recognized their tattoos as the men who were once in his cargo hold. He made a mental note to punish Oluo for growing lazy with his intimidation tactics. It took a long moment before any of them noticed Levi, and he was not sure whether to be insulted that four idiots would try to steal his craft in the midst of a storm, or inspired by their gall.

Either way, he plucked his tomahawk and blade from the hoops of leather sewn on his belt. He ducked under the swing of the first attacker, plunging his hatchet into the back of their knee so they collapsed on the deck. Levi spun, swiping his backhanded knife deeply across the tendons in the man’s nape and fluidly striking the next opponent.

“Pirate scum!” the man cried, clutching his arm briefly before drawing his sword. Levi could only imagine where he’d gotten one on such short notice, but he dodged and parried the length of metal before the ship heaved and sent them sprawling on the other side of the deck. Levi was on his feet again first, and locked his hatchet on the sword. With a jerk of his arm, the blade snapped and Levi withdrew his blade from the man’s heart.

The last two men were wary but ready, their own swords and daggers drawn. Levi’s legs flexed and moved with the rotational rocking of the deck, using the momentum of the ocean to parry their sword thrusts, roll beneath their swings, and put force into his limbs as he swung his tomahawk at one’s throat and threw the knife to land in the other’s eye.

Levi spared a moment to replace his weapons on his belt before seeing how far they had drifted from the dock. The distance was barely two ships’ lengths, and he sprinted to the wheel, turning it and locking it so the ship’s rudder would catch on any currents headed for the cove. His gaze jerked up and analyzed how the wind was playing with the brightly colored calico bits of cloth in the rigging. It all looked like a mess of wind, water, and cloth, like sodden seaweed hanging off old netting.

His eyes locked on one strip, right over the bow that was steadily flapping toward the port. Levi flew across the deck and ascended the necessary webs of rigging to unfurl the triangular jib sails. One of the canvases tore under the stress of the wind before snapping free of the ropes entirely. The other two held, though, and Levi felt the ship pull in the direction of the land. He returned to the wheel to guide it the best he could alongside the nearest vacant dock before he dropped his stern and bow anchors into the water. Levi locked the wheel in place once more and gripped two lengths of rope to tie off on the cleats mounted in the wood of the dock—

But the ship heaved without warning, and Levi vaulted right over the edge, slipping right in between the ship’s massive hull and the dock. He held his breath and kicked off the soft sand floor, but right as his face breached the water, his body was sandwiched between his ship and the dock, his head slamming against one of the barnacled posts.

His body sank back down to the soft bed below.


	2. Marked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and crew discover that something is amiss in their harbor.

Levi’s eyes opened to the sight of puffy clouds lethargically moving across the sky.

_Ding ding…dong ding…_

He blinked as if he was trying to see through a clouded lens, trying to wake from a dream. The sound of ships’ bells roused him enough to become aware of the throbbing, splitting headache on the right side of his skull. His fingers dumbly crawled over his face to cradle his head as he rolled over onto his uninjured side. The slight change in position caused blood to rush into the wrong places.

 _“Oooh…fuck…”_ he groaned. His fingers limply assessed the damage of his skull, and he felt scraggly lines of dried blood where the barnacles had dug into his scalp above his ear. Oddly enough, the headache was worse than the lacerations, but when Levi’s finger brushed against an oddly smooth lump on his ear, a sharp, hot pain shot through his cranium.

He gasped for air, willing the waves of pain to recede until he gathered the urge to investigate the lump. It was on his earlobe, and…smaller than he’d initially thought. His fingertips rubbed the smooth surface, and Levi could only equate the feeling to that of a pearl. His thumb went to the back of his lobe, and he felt the swollen flesh around an unmistakable thread of metal.

“Mornin’ sleeping beauty,” a familiar voice startled him.

Levi peeked over his shoulder to see his navigator lounging beside him in the morning sun. His eyes scanned their surroundings, taking in the deck of their ship harbored in the port like nothing was wrong, like a storm and four imbeciles hadn’t cast her off just hours previously.

But the bodies were gone. Levi’s sharp eyes looked for a scraped board, a trace of blood…but the only blood was his own, flaking off in his hands, and the corpses were nowhere to be seen.

“Did you pull me out of the water?” he rasped, his throat parched.

She frowned at him but handed over her water skin. “Have you been out here too long? The sun’s only been up for three hours and the heat hasn’t even started—”

“Stop talking. It hurts,” Levi barked quietly. “What the hell is in my ear?”

“I can’t keep quiet and answer your question at the same…” but the path her eyes took to examine his ear brought her to the rest of his injuries. “Ouch! Why does it look like a family of oysters attacked you?”

She did not wait for him to reply, but leapt up and ran below deck for her medical supplies. Levi knew she had returned when he felt cool water pour over the right side of his hairline. Hange carefully cleaned the dried blood off the small cuts on his cheek and temple before delving deeper into his hair. “Nice earring, by the way. I like a man who can wear pearls.”

His eye opened a slit to peer at her. “I don’t recall volunteering for it.”

He winced when Hange cackled. “I don’t remember much of last night, either. I woke up at dawn with a bit of land sickness and found you here… Why did you ask me if I’d pulled you out of the water?”

“Because the last thing I remember is falling between the ship and the dock before my head was smashed.”

Hange’s brows reached for her hairline but her gaze was dubious. “I see the proof on your head but if you’d passed out, no one was out here to—why were you out here?”

“I’ll give you a moment to figure it out,” he sassed, although he knew she was intelligent enough to do it.

Hange’s features hardened into the determined look she had when presented with challenges. It did not take long for her to assess their circumstances. “We’re not at the same dock as yesterday…did the storm break our knots?”

“No, our captives did,” he replied stiffly as she wiggled a swab of cotton around his earlobe. “What did Oluo do, buy them a drink and send them off?”

“You brought the ship back by yourself?” she exclaimed.

“Pay attention,” he chided. “Where is Oluo, now?”

“Wow, you’re really committed to this earring,” she commented, not paying attention. “It’s welded or something in the back.”

“What?” he growled. His fingertips first found his cartilage gold hoop before descending to the pearl. He felt the band of metal holding the pearl to his lobe before curling under and back. He painfully tried pulling at it, but she was right: it was a seamless thread of gold through and through.

“Don’t be upset,” she said, putting her supplies away. “It’s just an earring, and it suits you. We all have our rum dreams.”

“I don’t drink rum and I wasn’t drunk,” he declared gruffly.

Hange looked appalled. “Why? It’s so good!”

Levi stood despite seeing spots from the blood rush. “Where’s Petra?”

He briefly made sure his weapons were swaying beside his hips before he trotted down the gangplank. Levi glanced at the place he’d fallen, but the translucent water revealed nothing except an occasional strand of seaweed and translucent fish.

Hange followed, serenely whistling a shanty since they both knew where Petra was: she and Oluo managed to keep it discrete on the ship but they were rarely separated once on land. Levi ignored the scrape and press of sharp things against his feet as he strode through the harbor and turned sharply down Pleasure Row. It was a street blatantly furnished with brothels, but also cheap and clean inns. The prostitutes took their business seriously and knew cleanliness equaled customers, especially when they had _The Underground Inn_ to compete with.

Levi suppressed the cringe he felt when an advertising woman stroked his shoulder. Instead, he said as politely as he could, “I’m not interested. I’m looking for a woman with strawberry hair and a man with a silver tooth and sandy hair underneath a bandana.”

The whore smiled understandingly but giggled skeptically. “We don’t pay much attention to looks, if you know what I mean, Capt’n. It would almost be easier to identify them by their moans.”

Hange guffawed. “Oh, you know Oluo. He’s a screamer.”

The prostitute blinked vacantly and then acquiesced a nod. “The blue one on the right,” she pointed. “Take him. He’s distracting the rest of our business.”

Levi marched in the direction given but heard the prostitute murmur to Hange, “What does she _do_ to him?”

Hange giggled, “You can learn a lot when you’re bored on the open sea.”

Levi jogged up the stairs of the establishment and listened at each door. Some employees were already busy with morning cocks, but when he reached a silent, closed door, he burst right through it.

Both Petra and Oluo shot up, daggers and pistols ready until they relaxed at the sight of their captain. “We can’t be leaving already,” Oluo whined, naked as his birth and completely unabashed about it. Petra had the good grace to pull his overly large shirt over her petite frame and even cinched a belt so it looked like a dress.

Levi strode forward, and without further ado gripped Oluo by the balls and backed him up against the window.

“Oi! OI! No plundering THAT!” he cried, but Levi’s grip tightened.

“Do you know what happened last night?” Levi purred, far too calm for their situation. That might have been what put fear behind Oluo’s eyes.

“If it has to do with my balls, Petra might be able to explain,” he quipped shakily.

“No, it has to do with the captives you were in charge of, who decided to permanently borrow our ship. The idiots thought the middle of a storm was the opportune time to take it, and I nearly drowned getting her back to port.”

Oluo relaxed in Levi’s grip as the gravity of the situation dawned on him. His eyes roamed over Levi’s face, realizing how pale he was because the harsh, red cuts and scrapes were like vivid red petals on the side of his face and in his hair. “But that…that can’t be right.”

Levi released him, impatient and tired of holding his nether bits. “Are you calling me a liar or delusional?”

“Neither,” Oluo defended, "because I killed those men. They didn’t have the sense to even lie about obeying my threats. They stood by their king staunchly, so I did what I had to. What makes you think the men you saw were they?”

“They were marked with the same tattoos,” Levi relayed. “The same…whatever it is, the unicorn on their backs, the scepter and key on their forearms, a squid on their—”

Hange gasped behind them, where she was leaning against the doorway. “Nothing, carry on,” she dismissed.

Three pairs of eyes watched her. “Spit it out,” Levi commanded.

Her eyes darted to everyone in the room as if gauging how much of her theory she should reveal. “What if you’re both right and…what if king’s men have infiltrated the port?”

Levi did not like the sound of that at all, but there was a piece missing to her puzzle. “Why would four random agents target my ship?”

“You only keep six crewmen, including yourself, and that fact is well known here. The four of them probably thought they could handle the ship, or if nothing else…sink it.”

“To send a message?” Petra guessed.

Hange rolled a shoulder. “It’s a pretty obvious message that couldn’t be missed. Plus you’d be stranded here for a little longer than usual.”

Oluo jumped into his trousers as he said, “I’m not claiming to be surprised, because I’m not, but we’re hardly the only pirates giving the king’s fleet a hard time. Is it bad luck they found us first?”

Hange shook her head. “This is the only harbor along the poverty coast that isn’t actually poor, and that’s because of Captain Charity over there. If royal colors fly over the masts, then the profits go to the king and his men. It was only a matter of time before they saw a delicious pie for the taking.”

“It’s not for the taking,” Levi growled. It may have been Kenny Ackerman’s idea to make this place worth something, but Levi had brought it to fruition. He’d killed, cleaned, bartered, and slaved over this place to make it not only profitable, but safe…or as safe as a pirate port could be. He turned to Petra but spoke to all of them: “I want you to round up everyone and start talking, discretely, to anyone you can. Don’t spread rumors or alert anyone, but find out what the hell is happening here. Do you understand?”

“Aye,” they nodded. Hange and Levi left the brothel to allow Petra and Oluo to dress properly and split off to start their mission. Hange ducked into the _Bonny Horn_ and Levi strode into the _Underground Inn,_ where he was almost immediately bombarded by Isabel.

“Where the fuck did you go last night?”

“Out,” he responded.

“Farlan went looking for you—for hours. We were worried about you and you were supposed to do something for me,” she reminded pointedly.

He rotated so quickly she almost barreled into his chest. Levi pulled her into her office and locked the door. “Isabel, there may be spies in our port.”

Her features immediately fell into seriousness. “How do you know?”

“Because some of them tried to take my ship last night. They didn't, but I barely made it back to the docks. I need you and Farlan to do what you do best, except be charming about it.”

She blew a raspberry into the air. “It’s like you don’t know us at all. I can be charming.”

Levi’s expression was deadpan. Her cocky smile faltered. “What? I can be! If I set my mind to it…what should we be looking for, exactly?”

“Markings, tattoos, code words that seem harmless during conversation. If you hear anything about a unicorn, a horned horse, squid, something about keys or scepters: you tell me.”

Isabel appeared dubious. “Do you know how many men refer to their cocks as scepters? Or to themselves as horned beasts?”

“This has to do with the king and fortune,” Levi declared sternly. “They’ll be a bit more serious about it.”

Her skepticism faded into concern but she nodded. “Did you consider inspecting the _Bonny Horn?_ I mean, it’s in the name.”

“I already have someone there,” he confirmed. Levi brushed her hair off her face and grazed his finger along her ear. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll take care of it but I need information before I can. Do you still want that piercing?”

Her green eyes lit up. “About damn time!”

They descended the stairs into the tavern, where Farlan threw his rag at Levi. “Fucking hell! You couldn’t leave a note?”

Levi caught the dishrag before it smacked his face and dumped it in the sink where Farlan had been drying dishes. “Isabel will explain. Until then, get me something to eat and whatever the fuck she drinks.”

Isabel sipped her pineapple rum beverage while Levi handled the fork and knife over his sweet ham and poached egg breakfast. He was ravenous, having not eaten much the previous day, and the meal exclusively without salt was bliss on his palette. When Isabel was on her second beverage and he had cleaned his own dishes in the sink, he found the corkscrew.

“Where do want it?” he asked the humming Isabel as he cleaned the device in the sink, out of her line of sight. To his dismay, she wanted it in her cartilage, just as he and Farlan had, except on the opposite ear. Sliding onto the seat next to her at the table, Levi told her to look right. He pinched the curve of her left ear carefully and told her to count to three.

“One—OW!”

Levi pushed and twisted the corkscrew just enough so he saw the steel tip puncture the pinna, and then removed it to slip the golden hoop into her ear. Farlan was there in an instant, carefully pushing her head to the tabletop so he could pour cool water over the wound and soothe it with an ice cube until the bleeding ceased. He also handed a cube to Levi.

“The new addition is looking a little rough,” he commented. “If you wanted a new piercing, I could have done it for you.”

Isabel raised her head curiously and found the pearl on Levi’s ear. “Oh, I didn’t know pearls could be blue. That looks really good.”

Levi stroked the ice cube around his earlobe as he stood to look at it for the first time in the mirror. His lobe was inflamed, and tingled something fierce when he proceeded to clean it with soap, but he did not utterly hate the pearl. The blue worked well with his eye color; he just did not like being oblivious to how it arrived at his ear.

A few patrons descended the stairs, likely because the day’s heat had begun to bloom. Levi stood from the table and made eyes at Isabel, who nodded and whispered a brief explanation to Farlan. They set themselves to their task while Levi exited the inn, this time with his boots. On his way to the harbor, he spotted Eld and Gunther turning into the bazaar, likely for Gunther’s weakness for star fruit and Eld’s need for a new silk bandana.

Levi allowed Gunther to purchase his breakfast and Eld to tie his new garment into his braid before leading them to their ship to make repairs. It was perfect timing, as the waning tide easily swept them to the far end of the cove, where solitary dock posts jutted out of the water along the beach. They moored the ship there and swam to the shore to discard their boots, weapons, and ready their repair materials. Hange’s lack of gentility had caused a leak in the hull, and Levi’s experience the night before fractured several other boards along with making him want to knock all the barnacles off before slathering pitch over it. As soon as low tide sank the vessel into the sands, enough so it turned on its side, they set to work.

“We can start from the top and reach the bottom by the time the tide’s out,” Eld narrated. Levi swam out with his hatchet and a couple of other tools and climbed the side of the hull in order to remove the planks of carved wood that acted as rungs over the splintered sections. He wedged his tomahawk expertly between the seamless boards to remove them like puzzle pieces before they could be replaced with the fresh planks.

Gunther waded below him, gathering the discarded pieces until his arms were full and then he swam to the shore to dispose them. Eld was on the deck above, rolling all of the canons to one side of the ship so it leaned far enough so water would not accidentally splash into the open hull.

Levi reached up to hold onto the gaping hole as he caught his breath. He glanced toward the shore, where Gunther was arranging the replacement boards and buckets of pitch for when the tide lowered the ship onto the sandy floor. Levi returned his gaze to the hull, examining it for any other damages, but as his head faced forward, something in his peripheral vision made his chin rotate all the way around.

Bright blue eyes stared back at him, eerily close. Despite the water pushing against him, Levi felt frozen in place, locked in the bare chested man’s gaze. Levi instinctively pivoted his shoulders, trying to back away, but the man only leaned forward, closing the distance so much that Levi felt firm lips close over his own.

In his panic, Levi slipped, but instead of falling, the man’s long arms, hard with muscle, enveloped him, never breaking the kiss. Levi’s feet kicked out, to knock the man away as well as to tread the water, but the man held him easily—even pleasantly—above the surface, and what Levi’s bare soles found shocked him. Instead of two, powerful legs like the arms around him, Levi felt a solitary column of slimy, hard _something_ moving beneath the water.

Levi finally planted his hands against the man’s collarbone, and pushed. He had never considered himself a weak man despite his petite size, but right then, he felt like he was pushing against an iron wall; the only reason the kiss broke being how the man felt Levi’s distress. He reared back far enough to meet Levi’s wide eyes, which dropped immediately downward to see the large, flowing tail beneath the water and the shimmering scales sheathing it.

Levi’s dumbfounded expression returned to the man whose golden blond hair had been swept off his face by the water. He smiled serenely, giving an expression as innocent as it was suspiciously intelligent. Levi’s eyes darted over his visage and the tiny hole in his earlobe—

Just as quickly as he’d arrived, he released Levi and disappeared beneath the turquoise water’s surface, that large, lithe body gone too soon for Levi to verify whether the missing earring from the man’s ear was now in Levi’s own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SERIOUS QUESTION: okay, so originally I put Erd as the character's name, but I keep seeing it as Eld in some places. Is that just a choice on the writer's part, like how Hange can also be Hanji? Can someone explain this to me and tell me what you guys prefer: Erd or Eld?
> 
> Also...do not pierce anything with a corkscrew except an actual cork. Lol


	3. Hello Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and crew investigate an imminent threat that is proving more complicated than they would like to admit.

Levi stared at his finished meal, counting the crumbs as his fingertips fidgeted with the pearl on his ear. The clean of saltwater had finally brought the swelling down but his nervous fingers agitated the area anew.

He knew the folklore about merpeople, of course, but that was all they had ever been: _legends._ Not only that, merpeople were supposed to be women who sang men to their doom; not _men_ who were warm to the touch with a lack of understanding toward personal boundaries.

Levi had not reacted well to the kiss, if it could be called a kiss at all. He had not reacted well to any of it. He’d left the ship’s repairs to Eld and Gunther in order to calm himself down and to get as far from the shore as the cove allowed. Now he sat at Kenny’s terrace table, the wind chime singing above his head and the hibiscus blossoms fluttering on the evening breeze. Mikasa was at Eren’s for supper and Kenny was now checking his personal records after listening to Levi’s telling of the spies and events of the past twenty-four hours…minus the pearl or the man-fish-creature it must have come from.

Kenny emerged on the terrace, breaking through Levi’s reverie as he set down a leather bound tome of loose papers and parchments. “You’re not wrong,” he announced gruffly. “There’s been an increase in sightings of the royal navy by neighboring ports. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn they’ve grown legs to explore the land. Have your people discovered anything yet?”

Levi shook his head. “Candlelight and liquor loosen tongues. They’ll have something by breakfast.”

Levi abruptly felt Kenny’s long, callused hand grip his chin and turn it so his right side was visible. “What sank its teeth into you?”

He swatted the hand away. “Barnacles…oysters…whatever the fuck lives in the harbor.”

“And you thought to celebrate with a pearl?” Kenny japed dryly. “How romantic of you. Your habits never cease to amaze me.”

Levi licked his lips, half expecting to taste salt and was surprised when he didn’t. He shunned unwanted thoughts from his mind and stood from the table. “Do you have anything better than sightings to tell me?”

He could feel Kenny scrutinizing him. “That’s not what you wanted to ask me.”

What could he tell him? That a merman gave him the earring? That a man at all kissed him?

“Do you tell Mikasa your old stories?”

The change of subject surprised Kenny but he gave no sign of it. “Occasionally. Sometimes she needs something scarier than her reality to push her to sleep.”

Levi looked away from the view to peer at him. “Your stories were never frightening.”

Kenny chuckled. “Not to you. The one thing my sister did right by you was teaching you how to swim. Creatures of the deep never frightened you; if anything, you went out and sought them. Any other sailor in his right mind would not only drown if thrown in a bath too deep, but would drink to forget the stories of tentacles, teeth, and slippery flesh.”

“Have you told her about the singers?”

Kenny appeared to be pondering what story he meant, but Levi knew well how the man never forgot a thing. “No, she hasn’t requested a story lately. Why should I tell her about the singers?”

Levi’s lie was ready: “Maybe she’ll pass it along to Eren. It would keep him out of the harbor.”

“And leave the boy frightened of the sea? As if they could, stubborn boy. Only cowards let the waves take them under, and foolish though he is, the boy is hardly a coward.”

“Can he swim?” Levi wondered.

“Not that I’ve seen. I won’t test him either, by putting the thought in his head that there are wanton, ravenous creatures in the water who sing men to their doom.”

“Do they always sing?” Levi mused spontaneously. “It is a romantic deception: finding a bare woman in the water, singing poetry until it is revealed what swims instead of legs beneath her waist. But was there ever a story in which they didn’t sing?”

“That ruins the illusion,” Kenny responded, “and you disappoint me. Clearly they must have their way to reproduce but that is beside the point. Death is a song. We sing it with the ring of our steel, the cries of our voices and in the throats of our bells. That is the romantic deception: how we seek music in our happiest of moments, only to have it betray us in our last. Therein lies the dark poetry of the thing.”

Levi stood from the table as the last orange of the sunset crested the treetops. Kenny did not ask why he suddenly left without a word. Levi was prone to silent changes of mood without the obligation of explaining himself, and Kenny was not one to keep a man from exiting his home. Levi watched the sky as he meandered to his inn, watching the it slowly filling with clouds and smelling rain in the air. The heat which had bloomed after the last storm had not broken yet, so the rain would either continue moving through the sky or it would not unleash until tomorrow.

He trotted down the steps of _The Underground_ and accepted the whiskey Farlan had waiting over the flame. Petra was there, which meant she had something for him. His crew kept a distance from his inn under his own command; he kept his company from the sea and his company on land strictly separate. His enemies were found on the ocean; he wouldn’t have them using his few allies against him on land.

“Problem,” Petra informed without preamble. “There’s nothing.”

Levi stared at her. “Nothing…”

“As in, _nothing._ I haven’t been able to uncover anything. Neither has Hange. Even Oluo’s sass and Eld’s songs couldn’t get anything from loose tongues.”

They both turned at the sound of Hange stumbling down the stairs. “Holy Christ, it’s dark down here! Captain! Get those scrawny hips over here!”

Levi wasn’t sure if he wanted to roll his eyes or grimace at the fact that two of his most important crew members were in his inn. He could feel Isabel and Farlan exchanging curious glances behind him. He strode forward, eyeing how Hange had gotten her boot caught between the steps, making her eye level with his belt. She peered up and paused on his pelvis, “Blimey, it was a jape, but you’ve really got some fine bone structure. Your clothes make you look bigger.”

“Get to the reason why you’re here,” he growled.

She finally managed to wriggle her boot free and sat on the stairs. “Sailors are reporting sightings of squid— _squid_ —and I need your permission before Oluo can restock the harpoons, bait, netting—”

“Let me clarify this,” he uttered, stymying her words. “The only piece of land we call home is potentially slipping out from under us, and not only do neither of you have any explanation, _you’re_ more preoccupied with disemboweling creatures that taste like steamed leather. That’s less than anticlimactic: it’s fucking hopeless.”

Petra and Hange exchanged a look while the latter said, “They usually don’t come within two hundred fathoms of the ocean’s surface. Now they’re just writhing all over the place! Soon, they’ll be _crawling on land.”_

Levi grimaced. “We’re about to have a second tropical storm in as many days. The ocean’s churning up its dwellers, nothing more. I also have no desire to eat leathery flesh since I am neither starving, nor lost on the open seas. Tell Oluo to restock artillery, fresh water, and spare canvas.”

Hange’s lip puffed out in a pout but her eyes were dark. “You know, for such a clever captain and annoying activist, you should pay attention to the sea life more closely.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Or better yet, you could have left the blokes on the ship alive for interrogation before you killed them,” she continued.

Levi plucked the goggles off her head and swung them by their leather thongs around his finger. “How about the two of you stop lying to me, and tell me what’s going on?”

“Lying to our captain?” Hange cackled, but there was a nervous tremble to it. “That’s punishable by…well, however the captain sees fit…isn’t it?”

“Your brain has finally started working,” Levi approved, unconsciously cleaning the salt and grime off the lenses with his shirt. “I met you when you were mad and scorned by society, with your specimens and knives in that hovel you called a laboratory. The things I saw you do will be inspiring—”

“There are king’s men here,” Petra blurted. Levi stopped twirling the cleaned goggles and Hange snatched them back. Petra looked stubborn but complied, “However, not the king you’re expecting.”

Levi found himself puzzled. “How many kings do we have to deal with?”

“As of now, two,” Hange revealed, her spectacles back in place. “The squid tattoos are his trademark.”

“Then why would they have the key and scepter, the unicorn, as well?” he challenged.

“Double agents,” Petra guessed. “We sailed right into a silent war. It’s only a matter of time before it blows like a canon shot.”

Levi felt his temper simmering in his belly. “That’s charming. Really fucking charming. Pray tell _why_ you thought it might be a good idea to keep this from me?”

Hange and Petra glanced at each other again before his quartermaster defended, “We’re still figuring out what the sides are. We didn’t want to concern you before we knew who was allied with which king. We’re pirates: we don’t choose sides but we know how to work both of them to our advantage.”

Part of him knew it was a logical, even clever investigating, but the rest of him wanted the truth, and all of it, immediately. “And how many canons does it look like we’re stuck between?” he growled.

Hange laughed under her breath. “Do you want to leave it to the imagination? Just know that the storm coming has nothing to do with the sky.”

This was bad. Horrible, even. Hange was a stickler about facts, calculations, precision. Her reluctance to give such meant the numbers were either that out balanced, or so indiscernible that even she was wary of them.

He carded a hand through his black hair. “I need time to think. Find out as much as you can, and if you, or any of the crew lie to me again, I’ll give a piece of you to the sharks.”

“Well we know they’re not friends with squid,” Hange quipped, eliciting odd expressions from Levi and Petra.

“Get out,” he ordered, and the women jogged up the stairs. He turned to face Isabel and Farlan, but he shook his head. “I don’t want to hear it unless it has to do with our problem.”

Isabel opened her mouth, glanced at Farlan, and then shut it again. Her brother silently supplied Levi with whiskeys over the course of the night, but he drank them so slowly that he was never truly drunk. At one point, the hubbub in the tavern became a numb loudness in his ears, the air thick with candle soot and body odor until he escaped outside.

Levi sipped from his glass as he found himself once more in the harbor. The docks were clogged with ships, all but one, which he planted himself on the end of. After removing his boots so the water could rise to clean and tickle his feet, he peered at his surroundings. The vessels languidly bobbed around him, their bells chiming lightly with the wind pushing around the clouds as dark as his eyes. Dawn was coming, but the storm kept it secret. Only the faintest pink glow from the horizon revealed the true time.

His gaze dropped from the horizon to the soft ripple of water, pointed like an arrow, coming straight for him. He instinctively jerked his knees up, but before he fully removed his legs from the edge, the clear water revealed the slight glimmer of scales as blue, green, and white as the water and sand. But the blond hair, the wide shoulders, were what stayed Levi’s movements.

Stark blue eyes opened as that lithe form breached the surface directly below Levi, rising up so close that Levi saw those long arms reach over his thighs so the strong fingers could latch onto a gap in the boards behind him. Levi was immediately reminded of the power in this creature as his eyes locked on the cords of muscle in his arms, his chest, and his abdomen which was pumping his long tail back and forth under the dock, treading water almost lazily.

Lastly, Levi’s gaze fell on the face, and the soft smile waiting for him. Levi was hyper aware of the tops of his feet and shins against the bare torso. “Hello, Levi.”

He couldn’t tell if the blood was rushing from or into his head, but Levi’s world tipped a little at the sound of his baritone. He swallowed dryly. “Hello…again.”

The…merman…smiled, revealing surprisingly straight, white teeth. His wheat hair was short, like Levi’s, revealing the column of his throat and the elegant adams apple flanked by soft blue arteries. Levi’s eyes wandered over his forehead, his hairline…the elegant dip and slope from the temple to the cheekbone… He tore his eyes up before they dropped to his mouth. The slightest effect this creature had on Levi was unsettling.

“How do you know my name?”

“Because I hear it,” he uttered serenely, his eyes never leaving Levi’s face. “Aboard your ship, and aboard other ships. Captain Levi...a great honor, I am aware.”

Levi glanced down at the arms overlapping his thighs. He was so _close_. Levi was sure he felt his thumb knuckles behind his ass as the man held onto the dock. Raising his glass, Levi drained half of its contents.

Those blue orbs locked onto the glass, and Levi was sure of the placement of his hands when one of them lifted up to take the glass from him. Levi watched, dumbstruck as the rim gently indented the man’s lower lip, and the amber contents rushed into his mouth. Of all the things to wonder at that moment, Levi pondered whether is was safe for a sea creature to consume whiskey, even if he was partly human.

“Hmm…that’s good,” he approved, setting the glass on the dock. His free arm curled so he could rest his chin on his forearm braced over Levi’s thighs.

“How long have you been following me?” he asked hoarsely.

A slight smile adorned those full lips. “I don’t follow. I visit from time to time. You do not speak as most sea voyeurs do,” he observed.

Levi sighed, not meeting his gaze. “Yeah, well, I’ve got brats looking up to me. If nothing else, they’ll learn proper grammar.”

A deep, thrumming sound came from the blonde’s chest that vibrated up Levi’s shins, through his groin, and all the way up to his heart. “The young one with eyes like my scales…you are quite good with him.”

A knot of emotions pitted itself in Levi stomach until he locked cold eyes on him, recalling the only moment he could have witnessed Levi speaking to Eren. “You splashed me while eavesdropping.”

The smile he received was wicked and smug. “I have been a part of your life for longer than you realize.”

Levi was torn between wanting to know just how long that was, but also begging for ignorance. His eyes flitted to the matching pearl on the merman’s ear. Levi touched his own, “This is yours.”

That humming sound came from his chest again. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“To protect you.”

“How? From what?”

“You are marked as mine. People do not steal what is mine.”

Disgust was added to the knot roiling in his stomach, along with something else which Levi refused to acknowledge. “I wasn’t yours to steal in the first place.”

“I already have,” he responded smoothly, “from death.”

“And a thank you wasn’t enough?”

Those blond lashes batted once as he gazed up at Levi. “You’re welcome, but no…it is not. I know you are not a slave trader. I do not wish for you to think of yourself as my pet, but you will be known as mine. After touching you, I cannot say I regret tying you to me.”

“Wha—What are you…” he began, but the blonde pulled himself up by gripping Levi’s hips and thrusting his tail back. Levi felt trapped as the creature came ever nearer. He turned his face away, only to feel cool lips on his sternum. His open collar gave those lips access to his clavicle but the kiss wandered over flesh and fabric alike, until Levi forced himself not to shiver as those lips came to the edge of his nipple. The tremble broke free when teeth closed around it.

 _“Stop!”_ he uttered breathlessly, finally touching him to push at his iron shoulders. “What are you expecting from me?” he managed to expulse, but those teeth continued to torment his reacting flesh. Needles of pain erupted, but in their wake, waves of pleasure shivered through him. “S-St-Stop.”

The blonde rose higher and Levi felt one of his arms snake around his pelvis the same time his other palm found Levi's groin and his lips tickled his ear. With a press and roll of his palm, he pulled a huffed gasp from Levi’s throat. His nails dug into the merman’s supple flesh as he shivered against the pulses erupting from his tantalized ear and growing erection. “Please…stop.”

“The men you seek are from _my_ king,” the blonde said abruptly.

In his haze of lust and whiskey, Levi found sobriety. “What? What do you mean?”

“We have our rulers beneath the waves,” he informed, “same as you. The sight of you killing his servants was…”

Levi gulped as another roll of his palm and strokes of fingers through the fabric made his attention span shorten. “What do you want?” he managed to say. “For me to atone for it?”

The merman chuckled, and having that sound directly in Levi’s ear, against his chest as lips kissed down his neck…Levi ached as he had in the bath, only tenfold, and all over his body.

“On the contrary…” he said against him, “I want you to do it again.”

Levi jerked his head away so he could gauge how serious the creature was, but when Levi’s face turned, his parted lips sealed with the blonde’s. Unlike the first time, when the merman’s kiss had been singular and firm, now his lips hungrily sought Levi’s, pushing them open as he tilted his head for more. Levi hummed an exclamation when his tongue probed his lips, and then slid right past them.

Levi expected salt, cold, the tang of seaweed, but the interior of that mouth was warm, even hot, and tasted sweetly of man. Levi felt his jaw slackening, his eyelids drooping closed as his mouth was ravished by those soft lips and tongue. His fingers slowly began to explore the body he clenched, and trailed their way up the merman’s neck. He felt the base of his silky hairline, and then paused at the feeling of a soft, frilly membrane behind the ear, protecting a thin crescent of cartilage that felt unmistakably like a gill.

Sensing his anxiety, the merman pulled back, but only enough so their breaths mixed between their faces. Those topaz blue eyes flitted between Levi’s gaze and his mouth, obviously debating whether or not to resume his desire.

“I am called Erwin,” he uttered huskily. “Come see me again, Levi.”

He pressed a soft, deep kiss on his lips, and disappeared as easily as he had the first time.


	4. War Pets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi deals with his crew, who know far more than they let on.

Hange was screaming.

Which wasn’t out of the ordinary, although on this occasion, Levi was pulling her down the stairs of his tavern by the hair. Petra and the rest of his crew were on his heels.

“Captain!” Petra cried. “Please let her go!”

“It’s no use, Pet,” Oluo cooed. “The captain’s lost a marble. There was always a hole in the bag.”

Levi stopped long enough to make eye contact with the stunned tavern patrons. “GET OUT!”

They scampered readily enough, and Levi threw Hange into a seat. He growled in her face, “You’re going to explain to me, and you’re going to explain _well—”_

“I need a context,” Hange blurted, neither hurt nor frightened, merely shocked by Levi’s abrupt assault when they had passed each other in the bazaar. Half of the vendors had risen to help her, but once they recognized Levi, they had hidden behind their wares.

Levi’s teeth ground together as he growled measuredly, “I’m talking about the extra _king_ SWIMMING AROUND!”

“Oh!” she giggled. “You figured that out, did you?”

He stood erect, scrubbing a hand over his eyes while he paced the room. “I’m not sure which I should be enraged by more? The fact that _none_ of my crew, on any occasion, deemed it appropriate to tell me there are people under the sea. Or, the fact that these people have a distinct advantage over me—considering I can’t breathe underwater—when they decide to open an attack.”

“I keep telling you to equip me with harpoons and netting, but _no_ we can’t harm the little fishies—”

“YOU WANT TO DISSECT SQUID—NOT PEOPLE!”

“Squid are war pets of the king, dumb ass!” Hange rolled her eyes. “Read between the lines! Understanding the creatures would give an advantage to the rebels—”

Levi kicked her chair away from the table and tipped it back so far that only he was keeping her from crashing to the floor. Hange’s limbs flailed and her chest heaved with panic as Levi declared, “You do not _ever_ choose sides without consulting me first. It’s my ship. It’s my equipment, and I’m in charge of all of your lives. _You_ do not make rash decisions, placing all of us in danger, without giving me every shred of information you have. If you want to dive straight into a war, be my guest, but leave me and my crew out of it.”

Hange blinked rapidly. “Does this mean I’ve been sacked? GAK!”

Levi let her chair fall. Raking a hand through his hair, he wondered in the back of his mind of it was time for a haircut while he narrowed his gaze at the rest of his crew. Starting at his temple, he began tying a French braid behind his ear, much like Kenny’s, as he interrogated, “Would any of you like to redeem yourselves?”

Petra stepped forward. “We’ve known about the civil war for a long time, but it hasn’t erupted until recently. It never involved land dwellers, so we didn’t bother telling you about it, but now we will be dealing with the repercussions and probably direct skirmishes whether we are on land or sea.”

The bit of oil and salt in his hair held the braid intact, reminding Levi to have a bath after this meeting was finished. In the meantime, he busied his hands with his other temple. “Let me guess, the leader of the rebels is a blond thing named Erwin?”

Just about every member of his crew shuffled uncomfortably, except Hange. “You mean the blond prince? Oh yeah, that’s Erwin. Fine specimen of man and beast, he is.”

Levi scratched the mohawk of sorts he’d created, causing it to stand up fluffily. “Please tell me he’s not actually a prince.”

Hange shrugged. “There’s a bloodline somewhere leading to him, but it’s more of a metaphor for his majestic beaut—”

“Enough,” Levi curtailed, the hair now sticking up over his scalp. “What the fuck does the pearl in my ear mean?”

“It’s a mark of ownership, usually,” Oluo provided. “It kind of relates to the rings people wear on land. People where their family crests on their fingers, seals, or trade rings to signify life partners. Pearls are the merpeople’s currency. Trading one of those usually means something significant.”

Levi winced. He didn’t know what he’d been hoping for. The possibility that Erwin had been lying to him? That the cocky bastard was just trying to fool around inside his head? Part of Levi was glad that at least the bloke was honest, but it also scared the hell out of him more than anything.

“So what, I’m his war pup, now? The first ship in his fleet?”

“If you are, it’s certainly not an insult,” Hange scoffed. She remained where she was on the floor, simply propping herself up on her elbows. “Be as pissed as you want, but the man trusts you. Give yourself time, and you’ll realize how rare _that_ currency is.”

“I don’t care how much his trust is worth!” Levi shot back. “Their war should have nothing to do with me or this cove! One king breathing down my neck was enough, I don’t need another pulling me under.”

“But you owe him,” Hange countered. “He’s the one who pulled you out of the water, right?”

“I don’t owe him a god damn thing,” Levi growled. “If I could find a pair of pliers small enough to cut this thing out of my ear, I would. He’s the one who can feel disappointed about his actions. I’m loyal to my own, not to someone who thinks a pearl will sway my motivations.”

“Wow,” Oluo mused. “If you picked a side, you could be the drama queen to the king.”

Eld and Gunther bowed their heads, having the good grace not to laugh outright in the midst of Levi’s anger.

 _“Fine,”_ Levi sighed angrily. “What would you idiots have me do?”

They looked amongst each other, but ultimately they turned to Petra, who said, “We need to fortify the cove. Above all else, we need a safe port, but we’ll need to pillage for the supplies.”

“At least that’s something I understand,” Levi approved. “Hange, mark on a map where these squid sightings are, and so help me, create a route that _avoids_ the fucking things. Oluo, stock up. Eld and Gunther, help with the supplies and make sure the ship’s ready for travel and the guns are ready for combat. Isabel!”

She and Farlan perked their heads up from behind the bar. “Bath?” she guessed.

“I’ll start cooking,” Farlan seconded.

Half an hour later, Levi could feel the lilac and lemon oils seeping into his skin. Hopefully their scents would linger throughout the voyage. As much as Levi writhed with filth or even too much sweat on his skin, he refused to waste their fresh water stores on baths. He remained in the tub until the water was unbearably cold, and then he dressed in a soft, linen shirt and faded blue trousers. Farlan greeted him with onion soup, lemon and basil chicken, and white balsamic asparagus.

On the following morning’s high tide, they case off.

Well, they were in the process of unfurling the sails when a squall hollered Levi’s name. He peered around until his eyes landed on the small figure that was Eren. “Oh, sweet hell,” he sighed, vaulting over the edge and onto the dock. “What do you want, Jaeger?”

“When are you coming back?” the boy wondered, eagerly reaching upwards. Levi grimaced, rolling his eyes until he couldn’t avoid the grabby hands any longer.

Holding Eren against his stomach, Levi felt the boy tug on his cravat as he answered, “Two weeks, if the winds participate.”

“I’ll miss you. And Mikasa will too. And Armin.”

Levi’s expression was deadpan. “I don’t even know who this ‘Armin’ brat is. Stop making up fibs to keep me here.”

Eren’s bright greenish eyes widened. “Would you stay?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Really?”

“I said no.”

“You’ll come back!” Eren piped knowingly. “You always come back.”

Levi set the soles of his boots on the dock. “Whatever. Stay out of the harbor for the next two weeks, got it?”

“Aye, Capt’n!” he chirped, smacking his forehead with the blade of his hand.

Levi frowned, suppressing the smirk trying to form on his lips. Swatting Eren’s hand, he stated, “Only military men salute. I’m worse than a sailor.”

“You’re better!” Eren beamed.

Levi sighed heavily, the humidity sticking in his lungs. “May the stars guide you well, kid. You’ll need them.”

He mussed the shaggy but soft brown hair and climbed once more upon his vessel. By mid afternoon, the cove was just a sliver of land on the horizon, while a dot rested on their other side. Levi climbed the rigging to converse with Gunther. “What do your crow eyes see?”

Gunther poised the telescope over one eye, staring through it for a long moment. “It’s a galleon, but I can’t make out the colors, yet.”

“Fair enough,” Levi muttered before he ordered, “TOP SAILS! STARBOARD BOW!”

His crew rushed to do as he commanded, unfurling the appropriate sails. The canvases filled with wind, and their vessel languidly turned toward the commercial ship on the horizon.

“Captain,” Hange beckoned when he touched down on the deck. “That’s squid territory.”

She unrolled a map for him, on which she’d shaded in charcoal the areas where there had been squid sightings. He examined the area that reached across the map, and considered the risk of sailing through it to the safety on the other side. “How large were these squid?”

“Skinny, but as long as this ship,” she transferred.

He donned his tricorner hat as the sun emerged from behind the clouds. “Keep true. If you notice anything, shout.”

“Capt’n!” Gunther yelled from above. “They wave the green unicorn, sir!”

“Ready the guns!” Levi smirked. The flags bearing the key and scepter were the king’s trading vessels. The ones bearing the unicorn were meant for combat, and Levi enjoyed a challenge. “All hands, afore and aft, stand by! We’re sailing in squid territory, and that vessel will have more guns that your in-laws!”

Oluo guffawed. “Don’t challenge Petra’s mum like that!”

“Capt’n!” Hange bellowed. He leapt up the stairs to the upper deck and followed her gaze over the stern. A rather small, pale thing was floating on the surface.

“Why’s it dead?” he wondered, eyeing the squid’s bulbous head and scraggly tentacles which totaled a length no larger than his forearm.

“Bait?” Hange guessed.

Levi frowned. “For what?”

She giggled maniacally. “Sharks? Krakens? Hard to say…”

He glared at her. “Krakens exist?”

She grinned excitedly. “We might find out, won’t we?”

Half a mile separated Levi’s ship from the galleon. A warning shot had already been fired. Levi ordered, “Eld! Oluo! I want this hot and heavy so we can get the fuck out of this territory! Understand?”

“AYE!” they roared, and they did not disappoint.

Hange angled the ship the same moment Petra commanded, “FIRE!” sending ball and chains through the rigging so the central mast fell, but splinters were flying from their own hull as well. Levi counted the number of canons on the enemy vessel and quickly ordered, “BELAY! Board the craft! They’ll never run out of ammunition at this rate!”

They sailed abreast with the vessel, lashing their ships together. This close, Petra and crew leapt the distance easily, but Levi extracted the weapons from his belt to be ready. Sure enough, a couple rogue sailors swung onto his deck, cutlasses ready and pistols aimed at his torso.

Levi dropped and rolled as one bullet soared through the air, hitting nothing. Hopping lithely to his feet, Levi charged, running the man through with his chef’s knife. His stomach bled out even while Levi used his body to shield against the next pistol shot. Dropping the dying man, Levi ran and clashed his tomahawk with the assailant’s cutlass. Catching the hatchet on the blade, Levi twisted his wrist. The man followed his sword so his arm was painfully at Levi’s mercy, his knees buckling so his gaze went upwards along the mast.

“Why,” he huffed, “why do you fly no colors?”

Levi’s smile pulled his mouth to the side. “I like to keep you guessing.”

The man spat on his shirt. “You and your ship are cursed.”

“The cursed never die.” Levi thrust his blade in his jugular.

He looked in time to see Petra twisting the enemy captain’s head so far he was looking backwards. After that, the crew rapidly gave up their fight. Oluo tallied up the stores of lumber, hemp, canvas, as well as steel for blacksmith’s forges, jars of seeds, and more jerky than Levi cared to ever eat.

“Eld! Search the captain’s cabin and person,” Levi commanded over the distance. A king’s military vessel was bound to have something of more value than supplies…

Oluo and Hange whistled when he brought back a leather bag trimmed with velvet, out of which Eld pulled several gold and silver bars. He unfolded the captain’s soft sealskin wallet, which contained royal pardons and bonds bearing the royal seal, guaranteeing thirty more bars of gold to the holder of the bond.

“Fuck, these were rich men, indeed,” Oluo hummed, scribbling in the logbook.

As nice as the gold mine was, Levi was more concerned by the other paperwork. “Royal pardons?” He peered at the pair of dead men lying on his deck. Shoving up their sleeves and opening their shirts, Levi revealed a number of tattoos which only pirates and men in custody of the royal armada were inked with. “The king’s employing pirates, now? How desperate is he?”

Gunther was wiping his brow on his calico shirt as he commented, “My cousin wrote to me of a plague ransacking the rural lands. King and company might be short on willing sailors.”

“Speaking of medicine,” Oluo redirected, jerking a crow bar between the boards of a crate. “Anyone in need of limes?”

A collective groan sounded throughout the crew. “I can’t drink anymore lime juice,” Gunther shook his head adamantly.

“Store it below. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Levi commanded, taking the initiative and climbing up the rigging.

Leaving the wrecked hull and floating bodies in their wake, Levi took the crow’s nest in Gunther’s place. He secretly liked being up here; he felt the sway of the ship more and the view of the orange sunset was better than anywhere else. While he cleaned his knife and hatchet, he sipped from a carved cup containing diluted lime juice, sugared with some of the stores they’d pillaged from the vessel. Usually the sugar on board was reserved for special occasions, so when Hange gave him the thumbs up that they were out of squid territory, he dropped a dollop of golden granules into his juice.

Levi was not going to admit he was afraid. Before the storm, he wouldn’t have been, but the appearance of Erwin had changed that. Levi felt his mind searching through his memory, finding all of the tales and monsters Kenny and his mother had told him as a boy, wondering if they were true. Erwin was true. He had the pearl on his ear to remind him of that, but how much else should he be expecting to see on the horizon line?

Clouds rumbled above his head, trying to catch up with his ship. Even in the evening light he could tell they were still white and puffy: it might rain but it was hardly a concern.

“Evening, Capt’n,” Eld greeted, climbing up the rigging. “Supper’s in the mess. I’ll take over here.”

Levi descended to the deck and lifted his chin in acknowledgment to Gunther waving his soupspoon since his mouth was too full. In the belly of the ship, Levi could smell roasted beef, potatoes, and the sweet aroma of carrots. Something else was there, too, something…like chocolate.

“Where in the great wide ocean did you find fucking chocolate?” Levi wondered, sighting the pan of chocolate cake on the far counter. Oluo chuckled, ladling extra potatoes and meat into Levi’s bowl.

“Thought I’d surprise everyone with a treat. Got it back in the bazaar for a steal; it helps wearing my blade when haggling,” he chuckled smugly. They both turned their chins upwards to the purr of rain hitting the deck. “Doesn’t sound too bad.”

“It’ll pass in the hour,” Levi commented, shoveling salty broth and peppered potatoes into his mouth.

The soft patter of _thuds_ drew their attention up again. “You sure? Sounds like it’s picking up.”

Levi set his bowl down. “It could be Hange trying to dance again,” he said offhandedly. Climbing up the steep stairs, Levi opened the door to the light rain spattering the tarred deck, and the tentacles as thick as his legs slipping over the rail, out of sight.

His gaze shot up to the crow’s nest, but it was empty. Levi whirled around, expecting to find Gunther with Hange by the ship’s wheel, but they were missing as well.

Levi slid down the rungs of the stairs and thrashed his fists against the doors, waking up his crew to the matter at hand. “ALL HANDS! ON DECK!”

Petra was up first, and then Oluo, still wearing his apron. “Where is everyone?” the latter asked.

As if in answer, the ship lurched forward, sending them skidding across the deck. “READY THE GUNS!” Levi shouted over the rain and the groaning of the vessel itself.

“Black powder won’t fire in this!” Oluo countered.

“The swivel guns!” Levi shouted. “Two of you can manage one and shoot the fucking things attacking us! I’ll be aloft!”

In his peripheral vision, he saw Petra holding a thick cloth over the small, maneuverable cannon on the railing. It was pointed downward, so the barrel was likely dry. He heard the explosion of it successfully firing smaller artillery at the pale creatures darting around their hull.

Meanwhile, Levi raced up the rigging expertly, tying most of what he could out of the way while still keeping the pulley systems open. He slipped his knife into the heel of his boot, stabbing through the leather so the heel of his foot was armed. The spare blade in his other boot was positioned identically before he tied a length of rope through his belt loops. The rope connected him to rigging above the stern of the ship, but another rope connected him to the bow.

Then, he dived. The counterweight from both sides of the vessel slowed his fall and allowed him to swing along the starboard length, his hatchet chopping through the tentacles reaching out of the sea. With a jerk of his arm, the pulleys yanked him up into the rigging, where he ran in a crouch across the yard beam and then dived to assault the squid hauling itself over the port side rail.

He hadn’t thought a squid could scream, but as his heels landed on either side of its massive eye and his hatchet peeled back the layers of rubbery flesh, the sound reached his ears like grating metal.

He flew once more up the rigging as the corpse splashed under the waves. Oluo and Petra shot down three more squid, but the tendrils of smoke leaking out of the door to below deck were concerning Levi, now.

Landing on deck, he cut himself free of his ropes and jerked the door open: a haze of smoke blocked the stairs and corridor. It was unlike Oluo to leave the kitchen fire going unattended, and when Levi ran headlong into what was unmistakably a male figure, he knew his ship was parasitically being destroyed from the inside out. Levi didn’t have time to wonder and figure out how someone had gotten on his ship. All of the sailors on the pillaged ship had chosen to fight to the death; it was not like nonexistent captives could have set the kitchen aflame.

The naked figure knocked Levi clean onto his back, where he had a momentary breath of clean air and a view of the floor as the smoke drifted upward. His tomahawk caught on the skinny ankle of the man who’d collided with him. Crashing onto the floor with Levi, the captain spared a second to recognize the face—when he didn’t, he brought his hatchet down between the eyes.

He burst into the kitchen, where the counters were black with flames dancing over them. Levi slammed his palms against the scalding hot soup pot, barely registering the pain as he sent broth over the counters and floor, stifling the flames enough so he could climb back on deck.

But Levi collapsed on the stairs when the ship heaved to the right suddenly. The door was still open, so he saw the direction of the rain turn as his point of gravity changed. Slamming the door open, Levi lunged his weight forward so he could see what was happening on the left side of the ship, forcing it to capsize…

 _Those_ tentacles were anything but skinny. Anything but small. Levi’s eyes darted between one in particular inching its way across the deck that was surely as thick as the main mast. The suction cups slithered and popped over the wood, as wide as saucers.

Levi scrambled up, not sure what else to do but fight. A captain goes down with his ship, but damn it, he’ll be taking this beast down with him.

He leapt over and ducked under the slimy limbs, burying his tomahawk in as many as he could on his way to the net of rigging. Some of the slimmer tentacles reached jerkily for the source of pain, but Levi was already straddling the topsail yard, retying the ropes around his belt and forearm.

He dived, aiming for the gaping, black pupil which had just emerged above the water’s surface. He struck, but the eye was…gushier…than he expected, and his heels sank into the jelly while the beast screamed.

Levi quickly twisted, his momentum pulling his ropes and spiraling him upwards. The results were blades slicing through rubbery, slippery flesh and his hatchet cutting cleanly through two of the creature’s writhing arms.

The downside was his legs were now twisted in rope, and the beast was blind but not dumb. Levi back flipped and twisted the other way, managing to mostly undo the knot he was in while the creature ducked beneath the water. The ship swayed dangerously, righting itself after being tilted at such an angle. Levi sucked in air, holding onto the beam for everything he was worth as rain became the only sound in his ears other than his heartbeat. He scanned the surface of his vessel, but there was no sign of Oluo or Petra. He was squinting his eyes, desperately trying to see if any more of the whitish creatures slithered beneath the waves' surface.

He was too late in seeing the tentacles reaching straight up behind him, one of which found the end of the topsail yard. Levi scrambled to curtail its reach, but right as he reached it, the arm’s end curled and yanked downward.

The horizontal beam snapped, wood, canvas, hemp, and Levi falling. The rigging pulled the beam against the mast, but Levi was attached to it. His head slammed against the wood, sending him reeling. In the whirling haze of his mind, he heard something else _snap!_ something a lot like rope.

Levi did not realize it was the rope of the topsail yard, the rope that eventually tied around his waist which had snapped, until it pulled him over the edge of the ship, under the water, the last view he had being his own ship, capsizing over top of him.


	5. Sea Legs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi survives...but does his crew?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW, I'M LOSING MY REPUTATION AS A QUICK UPDATER. I'M SORRRRRYYYY.

_Cold._

_Sinking…dark. Gargling bubbles assaulted his ears, the thunderous sea…so loud around him. His ship…groaning and screaming above him…tight, something constricting his waist…pushing into his lungs. A tickling on his leg…slimy and strong pulling—_

Levi’s eyes cracked open as if they were caked in salt. Contrary to his dreams, the world was startlingly bright, especially bouncing off the white sand, the enviable blue water, illuminating the rusty purple tentacle inching up his pant leg.

He would have yelled if his lungs were working properly; as such, he flinched back, kicking against the sand until he was curled in to a ball, his shoulders pressed against something—

“Easy, easy, Marie won’t hurt you.”

Levi’s throat rasped thirstily as he realized something—someone—was stretched alongside him. Erwin’s arm pillowed his shoulders, his long expanse of shimmering fin playfully splashing in the shallow waves. Levi was nestled in the cave of his chest as Erwin angled his body over him, his free hand unconsciously caressing Levi’s forearm.

But what shocked Levi most was how he suddenly had an unequivocal view of _all_ of Erwin. The broad chest had a delicate dusting of blond hair that went unnoticed when it was wet. His lean torso tapered down to hipbones and a smooth thatch of bronze hair over his flaccid penis. The scales of his tail started on his hipbones, dusting his skin with clear, fluorescent flakes until they grew thicker along his thighs, under his scrotum in varying shades of blue and green. The way his lower body moved gave the slightest impression of knee joints, but the end curved and curled gracefully without anklebones. The wide fan of Erwin’s tail was mostly white, but the segments of webbed tissue reminded Levi of a lionfish’s plumes.

“Ma-Marie?” he breathed dumbly. Levi felt sand between his toes but his boots were nowhere to be seen. He did not know how he got here—where _here_ was.

Rolling away from Erwin, Levi shot to his feet, only to stumble as blood beat rhythms inside his skull. His vision blurred and cleared, blurred and cleared in time with the waves of nausea, allowing him to absorb the wall of tropical greenery framing the beach.

“Be calm, Levi,” Erwin ushered behind him. “You still have your sea legs about you.”

He whirled around, furious. “I still have my _drowning_ about me! My crew—my ship! It-It’s…”

He keeled over the sand, vomiting saltwater. Then he popped erect, glaring at Erwin. “I DIDN’T FINISH EATING! And fucking krakens attacked my ship!”

Erwin rolled over, pressing his stomach to the sand while the slopes of his ass momentarily distracted Levi from his anger. “A kraken saved your life. Marie brought you to me.”

“WHAT?” Levi barked, unable to control his voice.

“Squid…octopi…are not the same creatures,” Erwin explained, gesturing to the creature writhing in the waves. “Marie is a giant octopus, or a kraken. Giant squid attacked your ship.”

The massive, saggy head rolled out of the water, then, fixing Levi with its bulbous gold eyes positioned on either side of its head. Marie was certainly more colorful than the beasts he fought had last night; the creature was visibly alternating between rusty red and brown to deep violet in the sunlight, while her tentacles below the surface were almost invisibly blue and white with the sand and water.

Levi shook his head as he stomped away from the merman and his colorful pet. “You managed to kill one of the largest squids terrorizing our forces,” Erwin called from the water. He was swimming lazily along the shore as Levi marched away, followed eagerly by the octopus. “That is no small accomplishment, Levi!”

A strangled cry jerked his attention around, where Erwin was lifting the legs and webbing of Marie above the surface, as if searching for something. Levi dazedly watched him duck under the water, lifting his bare ass into the air. Marie jerked and shuttered the same moment Erwin righted himself, presenting a large blue-shelled crab. “I keep telling you to lift your weight above the sand, darling,” he scolded, throwing the shellfish away. The octopus attacked Erwin in a massive hug, binding its tentacles around his large frame.

Levi couldn’t take it any more. Giant squid. Giant octopus. A ship sunk and his crew missing, likely dead. He beat aside overhanging foliage as he strode angrily between the palms and ferns. Picking up a fallen coconut, he threw it against a tree trunk with enough force to crack it in half, spilling sweet milk into the sand. He doubled back to grab the damn thing, brushing off sand to gnaw at the hydrating meat inside the shell.

The land began to elevate, forcing Levi to climb and navigate around sharp sand spurs. The task put his mind somewhat at ease, as opposed to fixating on the image of Petra and Oluo swiped off the ship by tentacles…by Hange, as annoying as she was, being strangled beneath the waves, or Gunther and Eld being pulled down…down.

Levi crested the hill and stopped, puzzled. A valley opened up below him, populated with shouting people—merchants—hiding from the sun beneath their linen, canvas, and calico awnings. After descending the hill, Levi was faced with another perplexing shock: he recognized this bazaar.

Dropping the remains of his coconut, Levi quickly maneuvered through the crowd to the other end, where a cobblestoned avenue turned toward…the harbor. He turned around again, and along the street was an overhanging sign nearly overgrown by Spanish moss reading, _The Underground Inn._

Erwin had brought him home.

Loping to the inn, Levi gripped the banister as he delved into the tavern. He grimaced but also relished the familiar vapors of cigar and pipe smoke. Farlan was wiping the counter when he gripped the glass jug hidden under the bar by his legs.

“Hoah, mate you can’t be back here—Levi?” he exclaimed when the jug clattered onto the bar. Levi unstopped the cork and kneeled before the arc of water pouring from it, swallowing greedily and bowing his head to wash the salt and sand from his hair. “Levi, what are you doing here? You weren’t due for another twelve days!”

His forehead thunked on the lacquered wood as Levi fought to catch his breath. “Food.”

“Could you stopper the water, first?”

“Food!” Levi growled. Farlan dashed into the kitchen and reemerged with fresh pineapple, mango, and banana as well as quickly fried strips of meat. Levi did not even care how the oil slipped down his chin as he ate; his cravat was gone like his boots, but if he’d still had it, the cloth would be his napkin.

“Levi?” Isabel exclaimed when she came down the stairs. “What the—oh…were you…shipwrecked?”

Farlan shifted uneasily beside him and said uncertainly, “He was gone for two days. He would have been miles away; there was no way he could swim that far…”

Except Levi _had_ swum that far, before, even when he was far younger than he was now. He’d made his first small fortune by taking bets on how far he could swim, how long he could hold his breath; men died competing against him.

“Where are you going?” Isabel piped when he stood from the table, wiping his mouth on his salty sleeve.

“Levi!” Farlan called after him when he did not answer. He ignored the grit of the street and the uneven stones of the avenue against his feet as he approached Kenny Ackerman’s house. Part of him was relieved Mikasa was not present when he barged into the dining room, but he grabbed Kenny’s plate of fried plantains and bacon and dashed it against the wall.

“You lied to me.”

Kenny gazed at him, annoyed but calm. “Do tell,” he sighed.

“You always told me those stories were legends, myths, but you know more about the sea and the things in it than any person I know. Only someone who’s seen what you spoke of would know the mermaids sing for death, not enticement. How the giant squid have white irises, and travel in droves. Even the fucking king on the ocean floor, weeping typhoons and tsunamis because some bitch broke his heart—every time I swam out there, were you waiting for something to eat me? Something with teeth and tentacles to pull me under and take me off your hands?”

The back of Kenny’s weathered, tan hand whipped across Levi’s face. He lurched back a step but kept his footing as the man stated, “I will ignore your rude assault on my breakfast due to how you obviously just crawled out of the sea, tracking sand into my house. As for your accusations, it is hardly my fault you were too simple to understand all of the blatant hints I gave you over the years.”

“Hints?” Levi scoffed. “Why didn’t you just tell me? _Levi, there are things that will fucking EAT YOU.”_

Kenny chuckled. “This you already knew.”

Levi scowled. “Don’t throw that in my face! That was years ago!”

“It is hard not to, when I told you not to go swimming that day. Thankfully there were dolphins as well as sharks in the water.”

Levi could still see in his mind’s eye the tall dorsal fin rising out of the water, terrifyingly close to his otherwise small, boy form. “Yes, it was so fucking amusing how I was nearly torn to shreds. It is a real comfort, uncle, what your priorities are.”

Kenny shrugged. “The dolphins liked you well enough, since they ran the poor hungry beast off. True guardians, dolphins. Did you not call to them when your ship was attacked?”

“Call…?” Levi repeated, deadpan. “I don’t speak in squeaks and chirps.”

“Oh Levi…” Kenny sighed. “I can’t entirely blame you. Your mother told you so little.”

“Told me?” he uttered, like a repetitive parrot. “What would she have—”

“May I intrude?” came a deep voice from the doorway.

Levi and Kenny turned toward the interruption. Levi stared, blinked, and stared some more at the tall, impressive figure entering the room. A crimson coat falling mid-thigh with hammered gold buttons sparked off his equally bright blond hair. Levi unconsciously stepped away from those eyes as blue as the _scales_ which should have been…

 _It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn they’ve grown legs to explore the land,_ Kenny’s voice echoed in his cranium.

 _Soon, they’ll be crawling on land,_ Hange had said.

Kenny finally stood from the table as Erwin strode patiently into the room. Levi turned toward the small balcony behind where he’d sat, taking a moment to collect himself against another shock.

“And you are?” Kenny inquired confidently.

Levi glared sideways at their handshake. “Erwin Smith, sir.”

“The prince of the rebellion,” Levi grumbled under his breath.

Kenny and Erwin peered at him, the latter smiling almost bashfully as he uttered, “I am not a prince, Levi…but you are.”

He stared at him, unsure whether to guffaw or just leap over the balcony and call it a day.

Kenny faced him to return to his seat. “The king you griped about? Your great-grandfather.”

Levi watched him sit down as if he had just told him he liked milk in his coffee. As if sensing his angst, Erwin offered, “It was not your great-grandfather who sent the squid to sink your vessel, though.”

“No, that would be his grandson, Levi’s father,” Kenny agreed.

Levi felt as if his head was being slowly twisted off. “Don’t just say these things like it’s nothing. What the hell do you mean my…my mother was…”

“The royal family,” Erwin admitted, “has always had its squabbles. The king unseated his grandfather and…as a part of his conquest found the offspring of his grandfather’s beloved. Apparently his relationship with a human was ill received by his family and the kingdom has been uneasy ever since. The…rape of your mother conceived you. The king meant it as an action to confirm his victory over his grandfather and his mistakes, but he never thought you would be born, nor how you would pose such a threat to him.”

Levi felt the burn of salty bile in his throat. “My mother…by her, what? Half brother?”

“Mmph,” Kenny hummed. “Not as incestuous as that…more like a cousin, once removed, something of the sort. Either way, you have two mer-kings’ blood inside you. Delightful. You always were a supreme little shit.”

Levi was hugging his elbows close to his body, trying to process all of this rationally. “How does he even know I exist?”

Kenny snorted. “You know the answer. Fuck, did I raise such an idiot?”

Erwin was more patient. “You are connected to the sea, Levi. You feel its tides, and they feel you. It runs in your veins. Because of this, you also feel those who are related to you. Every time you swam in the ocean, or so much as dipped a foot in, the king knew you existed. He has been trying to have you killed or captured ever since.”

 _The shark…_ aloud, Levi thought, “But Hange said sharks are not allies of squid.”

Kenny understood his statement and waved it away. “Sharks are fickle. They eat whatever they can. They’re idiots incapable of following a king’s orders.”

Levi meant to look back at Erwin, but the man now stood beside him, and Levi found his eyes aligned with his lapel and the decorative buttons on it. He craned his neck up, his expression caught between a gape and a scowl at how tall Erwin was. He’d thought his torso was large, but peering down, the man was all leg.

Levi indignantly stepped away. “What does that make you? How do you always find me?”

“Merpeople are highly aware of members of the royal family. It is the power you hold, like a humming or vibration resonating in the water. I am able to find you because typically you are bleeding in some way when you enter the water. We can smell and taste blood even if the owner is miles away.”

 _Like the sharks,_ Levi thought darkly. “What about Mikasa? Mother died before she could have been born.”

Offhandedly, as if he was barely paying attention, Kenny informed, “The human your great-grandfather mated with bore more than one child. It is uncertain how many cousins you may have. My sister is the one the king found most to his liking for the deed.”

Erwin stepped aside as an abrupt clatter sounded outside the room, and right before their eyes, Hange blundered into the room with her arm in a sling. “YOU!” she pointed an accusatory finger at Levi. “You are a hard fucking man to find! And YOU, _Erwin!”_

She smacked his shoulder. Levi was not sure if Erwin had the good grace to flinch or if she was that strong, but she stood on her toes to get in his face. “Leave a fucking note, why don’t you? Let some of us know you’ve got the captain taken care of! He may be a prickly little git but he’s our captain before he’s your prince, mother fuck—”

“The others?” Levi exclaimed. The hope surging in his heart was so utterly foreign it was painful. “The others are alive?” Then he realized, “You’re _all merpeople?”_

She planted her good arm on her hip and frowned at him. “Of course we’re all merpeople, you toad. Why do you think we survive every battle?”

Suddenly, Levi was enraged all over again. “Then why the hell did you disappear last night? We needed you!”

“I was in the water, you ignorant piece of shit!”

“You do know it’s treason to insult him, don’t you?” Erwin wondered tranquilly.

“Really! Is that why a massive squid managed to capsize the ship?” Levi cried as if he hadn’t spoken.

“They snuck up on us!” Hange defended. “Eld only saw them just in time. He, Gunther, and I dove into the water to give you and the others time! A ship can be rebuilt, dumbass. There’s only one of you!”

Levi felt his fists tremble by his hips but he did not care. “The same goes for you! I thought you were dead! I thought all of you were dead! What was I supposed to think? That my closest companions had abandoned me or were being strangled under the hull? I was the only one on the damn thing! Oh, and _thank you so much_ for telling me this whole fucking war is because of me! Thank you for telling me the reason for all those squid sightings was because the jackass tyrant was trying to find me! I knew you were fucking mental, Hange, but if you’d told me all those harpoons you kept whining about were for _this_ and not your sick experiments, I might have been more lenient!”

“Well,” Hange coughed guiltily, “they weren’t totally _not_ for my studies…”

Levi’s nostrils flared and he felt his blood rushing inside his head and neck. He couldn’t remember being this livid since his mother had died.

The patter of rain on his back puzzled him until he turned around and witnessed how, far from the bright sunshine of earlier, it was now torrentially raining over the balcony. A touch on his cheek startled him, and his eyes lifted to Erwin carefully turning him to face the tall blonde. “Calm down,” he said quietly, as if to hush the rage inside his body. “We were wrong in keeping the truth from you, but be calm, Levi. No one has abandoned you, and you’ve never been alone.”

Levi involuntarily shuttered, unnerved by the effect Erwin had on him. Just the cradle of his palm on his face made Levi’s pounding heart calm to a flutter. The rain singing against the metal railing quieted to a gentle rhythm as Levi felt his anger fading like hot coals under water. He swallowed thickly, hating the angry tears pricking his eyes.

Shoving Erwin’s hand aside, he strode toward the door, away from their eyes and toward the rain outside. As he embarked upon the cobblestones once more, Levi felt the rain pick up once more, soaking his hair and raiment through. He walked, but he did not know where, nor did he particularly care. He just wanted the fresh water on his skin, the scent of the palms in his lungs, and everyone to leave him alone.

His feet pressed into sand as he began to wander so far off the streets he was surrounded by a forest of palms, ferns, and coconuts resting in the sand like brown and green boulders. One of them even had an iguana resting on it, poised like some king of tropical fruit.

Levi leaned against one of the trees with bark, ignoring its sticky sap as he pushed the notion of kings as far from his mind as he possibly could. He’d always assumed he was the product of some paid coupling his mother had done in the pursuit of food; even it being rape would not have been a surprise to him. His mother had been a beautiful woman, with long black hair and eyes as bright as the sky. Even as she withered toward her death she had been beautiful. The fact that she could have been attacked by some prick who was her own flesh and blood…and Levi had been a sorry reminder to her during the years before she died…

“Levi.”

He spoke softly, keeping his distance so Levi was given his space. He turned his face away. “What do you want from me, Erwin?”

“Ceasing this rain might be nice,” he proffered, closer this time. “It has been some time since I walked on land. The water tempts my scales to grow.”

Levi was almost inclined to say _Fuck your scales, you fishy bastard,_ but he refrained. “You mean I can control the weather?”

“This close to the ocean, yes,” he answered. “The sea and the sky work together, and you feel everything that happens between them since the seawater evaporates to the clouds.”

He arched a brow. It would make sense how he was able to keep such a tight schedule on his voyages if he was subconsciously creating wind to fill his sails and pushing the currents. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to like it…he really wanted to like it, but… “What do you want from me?” he repeated.

“I won’t ask you to kill your father today,” Erwin promised, but this caused Levi to glare at him stiffly. Erwin smiled in his kind, yet arrogant way and took another step forward. “I want only what you are willing to give. I want to protect you.”

Erwin stood beside him, now, his fingers stroking along the curve of his ear. Levi leaned away, but the tree held him in place. “Why do you touch me so much?”

“Do you not like my touching you?” Erwin wondered, his knuckle grazing down Levi’s neck.

If he could have fused with the tree, he might have. “It makes me nervous,” he admitted grumpily. “You’re as big as a fucking whale, and that much stronger than me.”

Erwin laughed fully, but not loudly. “I am hardly so large, and I certainly cannot control the weather. The way you fight, Levi…you are wondrous to behold.”

“Stop flattering me.”

“Not until your temper calms,” he purred, tickling his ear by fiddling with the pearl.

“You said that would protect me,” Levi reminded him, shrugging a shoulder to get his earlobe released.

Erwin’s fingers transferred to his hair, raking along his scalp to turn his head to face him, chin lifted. “I may not have been entirely honest,” Erwin revealed, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss on his lips.

Levi’s breath was stuck in his throat. “What do you mean?”

“It will warn others who…make advancements,” he responded. Those topaz eyes lazily dragged from Levi’s lips to his eyes and back.

“Advancements?” he reiterated, feeling like a parrot again.

Erwin’s eyes met his, wide and intent before they closed and he capture Levi’s mouth firmly. Levi inhaled sharply, filling his lungs with the sensation of Erwin’s large hands sliding possessively along his waist. A low, almost guttural moan rumbled in Erwin’s chest before he said against Levi’s lips, “You’re mine.”

“Hum!” he mewled when Erwin lifted him suddenly into the air. His hands automatically found his shoulders, his hair, holding him tightly. Erwin tilted his head, his body pressing flush with Levi’s and igniting a deep, painful ache inside him. His legs were around Erwin’s pelvis, the fabric of shirts and a jacket itching irritatingly between them.

Levi hummed again when a tongue licked the seam of his lips, protruding just inside of his mouth but not entering. Levi’s own chased after it, his fingers gripping Erwin’s hair until the man growled and one of his hands snaked into Levi’s tresses.

“Ah!” he breathed weakly when Erwin tugged his head back, exposing his neck vulnerably.

His hooded eyes had a brief view of Erwin’s hungry, wanton expression before he plunged his face against Levi’s neck, tantalizing the sensitive column with open kisses, licks, and a nip of teeth that sent a bolt of arousal into Levi’s already straining breeches. Erwin groaned huskily. “I want you.”

Levi grimaced, but not from pain. He tried to move against him, searching for a way to grind his pelvis against Erwin’s. He must have figured out what Levi wanted, because the man thrust against him, licking up the underside of Levi’s chin.

“The sand!” he gasped. “Put me on the sand.”

Gravity swooped around him, and then he felt his spine along the interior of Erwin’s open jacket beneath him. Erwin was careful to avoid getting sand on his hands as he tore open Levi’s shirt and slid his hand into his trousers while kissing a trail from Levi’s neck to one of his nipples. The belt was loose and the laces of his breeches became undone as Erwin stroked his cock out of them.

 _“Erwin!”_ Levi whined. “Oh…god, if you’re going to do something, just do it! AH!” He clamped a hand over his mouth when he cried out against Erwin’s teeth on his nipple.

Erwin smiled against his sternum, reaching up to pull Levi’s hand away. “No one is here but us, Levi. Scream for me if you must. I want to hear your voice.”

He gasped again as, with a slight jerk, Erwin yanked his pants down to reveal all of him. Levi blushed furiously, seeing all of his arousal flushed for Erwin, even a drop of milky fluid on his—

His back arched off the sand when Erwin took his length in his mouth, pointedly licking and swiveling his tongue over the small dip where the precum welled. Without further ado, he felt himself against the back of Erwin’s throat, right before he swallowed and his cock was clenched inside the slick, soft walls.

Erwin’s lips stroked up Levi’s shaft lightly, causing him to shiver. “Erwin,” he whined pathetically. “Do something…”

And then, Erwin’s trousers were being pushed down, his heavy, robust member springing free. Levi eagerly grabbed Erwin’s face as his lips crashed over his mouth while a large hand squeezed Levi’s penis against his own. Erwin’s thighs pushed Levi’s legs apart. His knees draped over Erwin’s hips until he bucked his pelvis, rubbing their cocks together. Levi’s knees jerked up as he gasped against Erwin’s persistent lips and tongue. “Hmmph! Again!”

Erwin released his mouth to focus on thrusting his hips forward. Levi’s lower back arched to meet him. He gazed at the powerful man above him, the way he moved, the way his muscles clenched under the shirt when it hung low enough for Levi to see beneath it. Erwin was gasping moans with him, his blond hair in total disarray, just like Levi’s nerves.

He exclaimed an unintelligible cry, and Erwin’s heavy gaze looked upon his swollen lips, the blush on his cheeks that spread to his throat and chest. Erwin dove forward, taking Levi’s ear between his teeth the same moment his thrusts quickened. The sharp tingles put stars in Levi’s vision while his hips bucked desperately faster, his orgasm reaching its crest.

Erwin’s chest rumbled with his growl, and that sent Levi right over the edge. In the back of his mind, he could feel the hot rivulets of seed jutting across his belly, but distracting him everywhere was Erwin; on his neck, over top of him, between his legs. Levi’s cry was muffled against his hair, his scent which somehow smelled like lilac and fire instead of decomposing seaweed and shellfish.

More seed spilled as Erwin abruptly shuddered over him. Rain still danced over their heads while they recovered their breath. Erwin let go of their relaxing erections to prop himself on his elbows, on either side of Levi’s face. His fingers pushed aside the wet tendrils of hair slicked against Levi's temples as he kissed him deeply, but softly, tasting him but not dominating his mouth. He cradled Levi’s head while his kisses strayed to his cheeks as he said, “The pearl protects you as _mine.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we'll never be roooyyaallls...oh wait.


	6. Ackerman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danger, Will Robinson. There be monsters ahead...
> 
> Seriously. Read with caution.

Levi stared at the opposite wall. He’d been glaring at it for so long the water around him was as still as a mirror. The thin cigar poised between his fingers lazily trailed smoke toward the ceiling. Levi never smoked, nor was he really doing so now. He’d taken one puff to get it lit, another to remind him why he didn’t smoke, and now he sat in the tub with his elbow propped on the edge, cigar in the air.

The rain had never really stopped since his reality was shattered. Even now in the evening, the window was awash in grey and being pummeled by drops. Levi was calm, but he suspected the weather knew his thoughts better than he did. The wind seemed to rush against the panes every time his mind strayed to Erwin, before quickly recoiling to other things.

Levi felt rancor toward his mother, though he knew his father would have been a fragile subject to broach with anyone’s four year old, especially the father he had. Even so, swimming, knots, and braids were hardly the skills he would have asked for if he could reach her now. 

_How do I kill someone who can breathe underwater?_

He also felt annoyance at his crew for keeping him ignorant; at the very least, they could have revealed what they were and opened up infinite possibilities for plundering. How many caves were only reached underwater in which gluttons stored their treasures during low tide?

But then…he was always back to Erwin. The man had offered himself for Levi to use as a distraction, which he’d certainly done with gusto. Erwin did not seem bothered or surprised when Levi crawled out from under him, fixed his trousers, and discarded his useless shirt in the nearest empty barrel on his way back into the cove. As he sat in the tub, the pearl on his ear was forgotten until he remembered it, as if he could only feel its tiny weight on his ear if his mind was focused on it.

_The pearl protects you as mine._

_…trade rings to signify life partners. Pearls are the merpeople’s currency. Trading one of those usually means something significant…_

Two concepts clashed in Levi’s mind as well as his core: the idea that Erwin had volunteered him for some kind of marriage, or that he’d bought Levi as his own, and he wasn’t sure which of these possibilities boiled in his stomach more. Erwin was attractive, sure, but Levi hardly knew the man other than his looks and his desire to overthrow a monarchy. And the possibility of being marked as some pet or slave…

_“Mama!” he used to chime whenever he emerged on the beach. “I found another one!”_

_Her pale blue eyes slowly roamed his direction, but once they found him, her smile was quick. Levi clumsily dropped a wicker basket of half shucked oysters beside her knees and held up a chewed up dollop of meat, formerly an oyster, and the white pearl gleaming pink in the light._

_“Oh, my love, are your teeth all right?” she’d asked, lifting his chin as if to see. “Keep finding these the way you are, and you’ll have to make it a habit to check the meat before you eat it.”_

_“Ugh, mom,” he whined. “My teeth are fine! You’re the one who’s so skinny! Eat these, I’ll go get more!”_

_He was already in the water by the time she called him back, but he did not worry; the reef was just past the sandbar, and he could be there and back with fresh oysters in no time. After accidentally barging into a lobster’s home, Levi emerged for air with handfuls of oysters, which he raised above his head to signal he was on his way back…_

_There were men on the beach. Levi waded to the sandbar, where his feet nestled in the soft earth as he waited to see whether they were more of_ those _men, or just passersby—_

_He clearly made out his mother’s long, ebony hair being pulled, and Levi cried out to her before he dove forward, losing most of the oysters but slicing easily through the water. Froth splashed from his knees and shins as he ran up the beach in time to see her thrown down upon the sand. Her clothes were ripped. One of the men kneeled between her legs, his heavy, sunbaked body leaning over her before Levi’s oyster dug into his neck._

_Levi felt his throat ache even though he did not hear his screams. Levi thrashed the rough edge of the shellfish against the stranger’s neck until he slumped over, bleeding uselessly over his mother’s breasts. At that point, one of the others grabbed Levi’s nape, thick, strong fingers closing around the front of his throat and lifting him off his feet._

_Levi landed harshly far away, breathing and coughing sand. With bleary eyes, he rose up on his elbows and saw the dead man kicked off his mother while another took his place._

_He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t feel the hot sand burning in his bleeding elbows or knees, or his hands which were split open from the oysters he miraculously still held._

_Instead of the kneeling man this time, Levi ran and leapt for the last one standing. Grating the oyster across his throat like a furious brush was easy enough, and since it took a moment for the kneeling man to notice the carnage, much more to rise, Levi was beating his skull before his boots were able to gain traction on the sand. The oysters bashed and bashed, sometimes slipping because of blood between his fingers, but bone crunched more and more while the shells shattered just as much, until Levi was pummeling him with his bare fists, screaming._

_He was tired of men beating his mother._

_He was tired of them doing things between her legs._

_He was tired of seeing her cry._

_He was tired of being thrown around just because he was small, like he was in the way._

_He was tired of being powerless, unable to be big against the bigger men who always treated mama different, just because she was pretty, or because she wasn’t a big man like they were._

_He was so tired…_

_“Levi.”_

_He turned wide, terrified eyes to his mother. The man he kneeled beside was beyond dead, nigh recognizable after the beating he’d just taken. Levi’s hands were covered in slimy red, matted with sand and in complete agony due to shards of shell in his palms and fingers._

_He did not know he was crying until his mother’s soft hand reached forward, her long fingers wiping away the salt on his cheeks. Levi threw himself into her lap, against her torso with such force she fell back onto her elbows before she could encompass him in her arms. He clung to her and wept. Her ribs were hard against his temple and brow, but he wept. He sobbed with abandon and cried until it was night, until he simply could not cry anymore._

_When he awoke, he was still on the beach, the sand fleas of dawn tickling and scratching at his nose. He still rested inside his mother’s embrace…but it was cold._

_His nose wrinkled not because of the fleas, but because a mixture of scents were crawling inside his nostrils, attacking his awareness. The three men’s bodies around him were beginning to soften with the coming of the sun while an ominous odor, a prelude of the gases rising in their bellies made itself known. But it was his mother’s loosened bowels which Levi took notice of. How a tiny sand flea hopped onto her eye only to get stuck in the fluid, and her lashes not batting it away. How her full lips were no longer pink, but chapped and flaking, emaciated from the illness that had killed her before these men could._

_Levi didn’t cry. His eyes felt bruised from crying all afternoon and into the night. He couldn’t cry anymore even though he wanted to. Instead, he went to the shallow waves kissing the shore, and he washed his hands, wincing at the sting of shells embedded too deeply inside his hands. He then emptied the basket of dead oysters and took it out to see, plunging beneath the waves for fresh breakfast, oysters as well as that angry lobster and whatever crabs he could out-swim._

_He returned to the beach before his blood could attract the sharks. Shellfish clacked and flopped uncoordinatedly in his basket as he carried it to the nearest market. Since his catch was still trying to attack him, each creature sold immediately. Levi kept a couple oysters for his breakfast, but he hid his coins at the bottom of his basket._

_He made it four days like that: catching breakfast or selling it, and then using the coin he earned to purchase bread for dinner, or a bed for sleep._

_But then a ship arrived. Some of the sailors heard of a boy selling the freshest catch of the cove, and Levi had made the mistake of making the beds he rented. He was found on the fifth day, and the sailors laughed at his bruised, infected hands. That didn’t stop them from throwing him aboard their ship. They argued over whether to make him a cabin boy, but they figured this restricted him to the captain’s use. A powder monkey, or a swab, the others suggested, since Levi had such skill with catching things and no regard for his own safety; but the captain spoke over them. He had other plans for the petite son of the residential beauty. A plan far more profitable than the ship’s fuck boy._

_Well, he had the plan until his crew mutinied. All inside that fifth day, Levi had been kidnapped, debated like booty for sharing after a plunder, and suddenly found himself confronted with roughly a dozen men, itching for a chance at him first._

_Initially, Levi did not understand. He’d accidentally seen what the men coveted between his mother’s legs, but he was different. He didn’t have a place for—_

_Oh, but he did._

_His breeches were torn from him and he felt a greasy hand slide between his cheeks, spreading a gooey wad of saliva over his hole. The others laughed, saying they’d be gentle so the buyers would never know he was spoiled goods._

_Then, Levi understood, and it was a strange irony how the sailors underestimated a shucking knife._

_Perhaps they’d let him keep the dull blade to use as their knew cook, Levi would never know, because as slick as an eel, he’d writhed out his arm and buried it to the hilt in the sailor’s eye. Next, he shoved over the brazier, scattering coals and light so the crew was shrouded in darkness. And the thing about pitch is, when it dries it may be water proof and help a ship float, but it is always flammable. Levi was quicker than they anticipated, and far stronger. Four, then five were dead before Levi caught his breath, and by then the deck was burning._

_Marvelous, how pitch burns. Those who chose drowning versus burning alive heaved themselves overboard, but Levi finished the rest._

_He was the last to leave the ship. He dove lithely into the sloshing waves, and swam away from the sinking blaze, far enough to be able to peer toward the lanterns in the sky._ Connect the dots, _his mother used to say,_ the ones that form a dipper will lead you to water if you follow the handle. The ones that form a couple fishes will lead you to a good catch, so the fisher wives say. But follow the thread of pearls, the brightest stars you can see to the west, and they’ll bring you home.

_They were only gone for a few hours, no more than an afternoon and half the night, but the distance separating a small boy from land was miles and miles and miles, but he swam and he swam and he swam and then he swam some more. Levi’s mother had taught him how to breathe, how to use his arms, how to kick in time with his arms and his breaths so he saved energy and used the sway of the sea to his advantage._

_Land crept up on him without him realizing it. Levi had been exhausted, barely lifting his chin enough for air when his foot kicked a boulder. Mollusks and barnacles tore his shins open anew, making him think monsters were biting his toes and clawing at his legs. If a wave hadn’t thrown him onto the beach, he might have gone mad and drowned right there, but instead Levi climbed his way from the water, too exhausted to breathe, much less to roll onto his back before sleep pulled him under._

_He’d awoken with a boot on his shoulder, rudely flipping him over so he squinted up at the tall figure who was Kenny Ackerman. The man grimaced with a cigar clenched between his teeth and a salt-stained tricorner upon his thick, black hair. He grimaced, “So you’re my nephew, huh?” before lifting Levi by his filthy, oversized and stiff shirt._

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Levi?”

He blinked out of his memories, his eyes burning from seeing the past too long. “What?” he asked while he rubbed them.

“Uh…I was just thinking the water might be cold,” Isabel said through the door. “Are you okay in there? Farlan wants to know what to cook for you.”

Levi scrubbed a hand over his face as if to clean off the sand that had been plastered to it when he’d first met Kenny. He realized there wasn’t any sand, and also just how hungry he was. “Whatever is easiest for him. I’ll be down soon.”

He heard her shoes patter away as he let his cigar float over the surface of the copper tub. Flipping his hands up, Levi examined his palms and the faded scars there. Kenny had certainly hassled him over the years with how much it had cost to get his hands fixed, but he’d paid for the best surgeon money could buy.

A decade later, though, and Levi had begun to understand why men fancied things between their legs. He’d tried looking at women, but he only saw his mother. So he’d tried men, but halfway through his first time, he’d gone soft in the man’s ass, much to the annoyance of his partner. Levi paid him like a whore just to make him go away, and he’d kept his sexual urges to himself since.

Which brought him back to Erwin.

As he dressed in a white, button-up shirt with a blue waistcoat and faded black trousers, he wondered what had changed. Was he suddenly ready for some sort of relationship, or was Erwin just that different? Levi couldn’t shake the memory of nearly being sexually trafficked, but Erwin was openly declaring exclusive rights, and he’d said outright how he would only take what Levi was willing to give…

He let blonds and their long legs fade from his mind as he descended the stairs, drawn by the smell of what could only be fettuccine with mussels, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and olives. He gratefully gulped down the lemonade, inducing Farlan to leave the pitcher on his table.

Levi commenced his plan to eat every morsel, only lifting his gaze when an unmistakably loud arrival announced Hange’s presence in the chair adjacent to his. “Heyo. Have you calmed down, yet?”

He spared her a glance and murmured, “Well enough.”

“You sure? It’s dumping outside.”

“I am not totally at fault for the weather patterns, Hange,” he reminded softly, causing her to scrutinize him.

“You’re different. What changed?” She picked through his discarded mussel shells before plucking one off the edge of his bowl.

He ignored her slurping the broth as he responded. “I haven’t in any way processed this enough. All I have are people talking at me while I’m landlocked.”

She closed the mussel like a toothless mouth as she corrected, “You don’t have people talking at you. If you haven’t noticed, Captain, we kind of give a shit about you. We only kept the truth from you because we didn’t know how you would react, and we have our own pride to maintain. We don’t have a fucking clue about what’s going on, any more than you do. This is the reason the damn rebellion has gone on as long as it has.”

Levi’s brows lifted analytically as he taunted, “Too many squid? It’s a shame you can’t control the sharks. Those things are built to be war machines.”

Hange blew air so it sputtered between her lips. “Aye, I hear that. On the plus side, we’ve got Mikael, who has the nose of a shark and is just as fast—”

“Who?”

“Oh, Mikael, or Mike, as we call him. You haven’t met him, yet. He’s Erwin’s right hand man.”

“What does that make you? Next in line after this Mike?”

Hange’s eyes flashed with mischief. “Don’t be jealous, Captain. Your ship, your rules. It’s kinda strange now, not having a ship and all, but I like having the lines blurred. Maybe you haven’t officially declared for our side, yet, but you’ll see it isn’t about whether me or Petra or the others are more with you, or more with Erwin. We’re all on the same side. Oh Captain, my Captain, I’ll sink with you.”

A rare smile curved Levi’s lips as he chuckled, leaning against the spine of his chair. His gaze pulled to Farlan behind the bar, who returned the smile easily. “The sentiment is kind, but you don’t have any concern since you don’t have a fear of sinking. I’m almost sorry your prince is a land dweller.”

Hange’s jaw halted in chewing around the second mussel she’d stolen. Levi instantly recognized another secret lying behind her eyes. “Actually,” she swallowed, “about that—”

Thunderous steps yanked their attention to the stairs, where a thin waterfall of water was rippling over the treads while a man announced, “The street’s flooded!”

Levi and Hange stood together, the latter rounding everyone up while the former grabbed Farlan from behind the bar. They were the last ones out of the tavern, and Levi commanded him to find Isabel while he crammed a meter-wide, three-inch thick board into the gap between the floor and the doorjamb to the stairs of the tavern. He kicked the board down so it nestled snugly between the stones, and created a wall to block more water from flooding downstairs.

Levi glanced up at Farlan and Isabel on the upstairs landing before he strode outside to stand with Hange beneath the inn’s awning. “I don’t suppose your lot can predict the weather?”

“You’re the one who’s technically supposed to be in charge of the sea,” she retorted benevolently. “Do you feel anything strange? The ocean doesn’t have to do anything for the sky to lose its shit.”

Levi winced at that. “Charge of the sea? Is that how the king thinks? He won’t last if he thinks he can control the ocean.”

Without waiting for her response, he entered the steady torrent of rain, and trod through the ankle high water to the harbor. He was careful not to slip on the dock with his bare feet as he examined the tranquil horizon. He heard Hange behind him, but his attention was lowering to the water around the quay posts. It was receding, slowly, but the barnacles were definitely emerging above the surface.

Levi’s esteem began to dwindle at the same rate as the water. “I didn’t feel an earthquake,” he thought aloud. “The sea is only this calm before a storm or a tsunami.”

He finally looked at Hange, whose eyes weren’t on the water, but on Levi’s legs. “That’s the problem,” she voiced, “the king sort of _can_ control the ocean.”

Levi’s eyes widened and his chin jerked down, realizing why she was staring so intently on his legs—on his bare feet. The king and his people knew Levi existed every time he stepped into the water, and now the rain was connecting the land with the sea… After a failed attack with only a sunken vessel to show for it, the king had just found his hiding place.

 _“FUCK!”_ He bolted back into town, and bellowed into the inn, “ISABEL! FARLAN! GET OUT HERE!”

Startled by his tone, they ran down the stairs only to be yanked by him into a sprint down the street. He stopped outside of Kenny’s villa, but the man was already outside with Mikasa propped on his hip when he arrived. “Get to high ground,” Levi ordered. “A tsunami’s coming. _Don’t_ let her touch the water,” he added darkly to Kenny, gesturing between Mikasa and the ground.

“Family reunion, is it?” he asked casually.

“Not for you,” Levi growled. “Get up the mountain, _now._ You’ve got minutes to be out of this place.”

“Levi,” the girl uttered, reaching for him.

He instinctively grasped her hand. “I’m not coming. You have to go with Uncle Kenny.”

But she continued to reach for him, and he accepted her in his arms. He hugged her small body tightly, smelling a scent shockingly similar to his mother in her hair. Levi had never once considered becoming a father, but with stunning clarity, he realized Mikasa was his heir. He turned his face to kiss her hair and cheek before handing her back to Kenny. “Don’t let her touch the water,” he reminded before shoving Isabel and Farlan in the same direction.

“Wait!” Isabel recoiled. “This is more than a tsunami! What’s happening? We’ve only eavesdropped enough to know bits and pieces of this.”

Levi didn’t have time to explain properly. He gripped her head to kiss her forehead. He did the same to Farlan and ordered, “Shut the hell up and get yourselves to higher ground.”

“Where to next?” Hange inquired as she ditched her arm sling and kept up with his sprint.

By way of answering, Levi splashed to a stop in a run down, but comfortable home and yelled, “JAEGER!”

A patter of feet was heard, and Eren peeked vivid teal eyes at him from around the corner while a stark blond boy with wide blue eyes stared at Levi behind him. “Is this Anklet?”

“Armin!” Eren piped with a glare.

“Armin! Fine!” Levi retorted, pointing in the direction of elevated land. “I want both of your asses on that mountain! Now! Mikasa is waiting for you!”

“Aye, Capt’n!” Eren chimed, grabbing Armin’s wrist and splashing through the puddles.

Levi faced Hange, “Make sure they get there.”

Hange’s eyes widened behind her goggles. “And you?”

“I don’t care about anyone else,” he responded, already striding away. “The rest of you can breathe underwater.”

He ran to the harbor, which was officially a beach due to the receded water. Levi quickly untied the nearest sloop and vaulted onto its angled deck. The anchor was sunk deep into the sand so there was no point trying to hoist it up. He opened a latticed panel on the deck to reveal a weapons cache, and he rummaged through it until he found what he wanted: two hatchets. He then dashed below to the galley, where he found a pair of long kitchen knives to place in his leather belt.

When he reemerged on deck, he saw the water coming. It was a seam of froth across the horizon, but it quickly grew into a ripple, like a wrinkle on a curtain, and then it was a wave rushing toward shore. Levi’s heart began pounding in his chest, breaking apart his ribs as he felt the surge of energy coming his way.

And all he could do was wait.

Ships clattered and bumped uselessly against the docks as the water swept under them. Their tethers and anchors kept them in place only momentarily, and a moment later, Levi’s sloop was bobbing into the others as they were all pushed over the land. He felt his anchor catch on the dock, and then the ground before the water rose and it hooked on the roofs of buildings.

Abruptly, the anchor held tight on something, and a passing galleon bashed into the sloop, causing Levi to be knocked off his feet as the ship spun like a top over the water’s surface. He peeked up when the rotations began to slow. When he saw how all the quay’s ships had moved on or gotten caught on other buildings, Levi started to climb toward the rigging for a higher view. The rain had dwindled so stray drops fell into his hair or against his face, and the sea had calmed so his ship waded amongst the tall palms, whose fronds looked like bushes along the surface.

What he saw next did not surprise him. Delicate ripples of water, shaped like arrows, were gliding over the water, while long, pale creatures slid silently underneath. The squid dashed all around him, but none seemed to take notice of him; they were searching for humans in the water, not above it. Levi peered up at the mountain rising out of the sea like green temple; a sanctuary where crates from the bazaar and coconuts bobbed around like wayward offerings.

Some splashes drew his attention, where the squid had found a sorry person too late in evacuating the cove. Then all was quiet again as he intently watched the horizon as well as the water around him. After a while, he realized the water was beginning to recede, not for another tsunami, but for the sea to return to its normal level. The hull of Levi’s sloop bumped against the roof its anchor had caught on before it slumped ungracefully off the tiles.

His eyes caught on something floating in the water. For a moment he was puzzled, because it was not a color he expected for a floating piece of wreckage or fruit to be…until it lethargically rolled over and the auburn strands that were hair revealed the pale face of Isabel.

Levi was not aware of himself climbing down to the deck, but he suddenly leaned over the edge, blinking rapidly, trying to see the face clearly, to get rid of Isabel’s image on the severed head floating past the hull…but it wasn’t disappearing. Water ebbed and filled her open mouth, her lovely green eyes dilated to black pools.

A splash tore Levi’s attention closer toward the mountain. He only needed a moment to realize it was human arms flailing with the skinny tentacles of a squid. Levi gripped his knives and dove into the water, swimming powerfully to the scuffle.

It had to be Farlan. He and Isabel were inseparable. It had to be Farlan. He wouldn’t be far from Isabel—

Levi took a breath and plunged under the water, hearing the screams of the squid as he sank a blade into its orb of an eye and slashed at its arms around Farlan. Another minute later, he held Farlan against his chest as he backstroked to the sloop. Getting back on deck was a more difficult matter, but he did it. He landed harshly on the deck while he dragged Farlan over the rail—only to realize why he’d been able to do it at all: Farlan's legs were gone.

A wide smear of blood painted the rail and deck where he’d been dragged onto the sloop, and he was bleeding out profusely. Levi coughed a sob at the sight, and cradled Farlan’s shoulders and head in his embrace.

“Levi…” he whispered, so quietly it was more like his lips were absently moving. A drop of blood streaked out of the corner of his mouth, thinned by the water on his face. Levi quickly wiped his shirt over it, his features grotesque as he painfully held tears in his eyes.

“What did you do? I told you to go…” he choked.

That corner of his mouth twitched, trying to smile. “ 'Love is stupid'…you said that…once…but we love you, Levi. Oh Captain…my Captain…”

His eyes, as softly blue and grey as the sky above, shrank as his pupils fanned wide, and then Levi wasn’t holding Farlan anymore. It was just half a body in his arms.

Levi’s eyes widened like saucers, his features trembling because he couldn’t control them anymore. He carefully set down the body that used to be Farlan, used to be his family, the closest person to a brother Levi had ever had. He brushed a hand over the pale blond hair before he unceremoniously fell back on his pelvis, holding a hand to his mouth as his body began quaking with tremors. His other hand joined the other, shielding his face from what remained of Farlan, from the head floating away that used to be Isabel. His body double over, his sob growing into a cry, and then a scream.

Levi felt the presence before he heard him. “Hello, Levi. It is ‘Levi,’ isn’t it?”

His head lifted. The man hanging from the rail of the ship by his elbows, with his forearms casually crossed, was a merman with a short, ebony beard glistening with droplets. His scalp was just as dark, and slicked back to rest on his nape. Levi saw more of himself in his mother than in this man, except for the grey eyes, dark like a shark’s hide.

Levi carefully stood, letting his tears continue to escape his eyelids as he trod silently to the railing, but not near his father. Levi’s sleeves were already rolled up to his elbows despite being weighed down by water. He flipped his blade in his hand so it easily sliced across the inside of his elbow.

The king observed this curiously. “Most people cut a bit lower if they wish to end their lives. Do I have such an effect on you? This entire mess could have been avoided if I’d simply introduced myself earlier, I suppose.”

Levi did not respond. He watched the thick drops of blood dribble into the sea, still gradually receding so the topmost windows of three-story buildings were now visible. His blood gathered in long streams, sometimes cutting off into drops before gathering in a steady flow once more.

He felt the ship rock beneath him as his father heaved himself over the railing and onto the sloop. Levi finally looked over his shoulder to see his coal black and blue scales shedding over Farlan’s blood, and his flesh sinking into the dip of his legs before they separated. His ankles and feet took longer, the bulbs of his anklebones growing before the metatarsal bones of his fin retracted and broke to form toes. The sight was eerie and disgusting, and the last thing Levi wanted to see was his naked father standing over half of his brother.

“Don’t disappoint me, Levi,” he purred. “You’ve shown such a good fight up until now. I want you to fight again. Show me you’re my son.”

“I will,” he finally replied, meeting the matching steel gaze before looking out over the empty horizon. “Then I’ll leave you to the sharks.”

Not as empty as before, tiny spears began to break the surface, and those rippling arrows began to swim his way again. Levi unrolled his sleeve and tore it for a bandage around his elbow.

His father chuckled. “I’m impressed. It’s almost as if you can control the sharks, but you know if you were to fall in, they would eat you just as readily as they would me. You have gumption, though, as I expect a son of mine would.”

Levi cinched the knot by his elbow and glared across the deck at the king. “My last name is Ackerman, same as my mother’s. Obviously she had the brains. I’m her son, not yours.”

A jarring song reached their ears, and the king’s chin jerked to both sides of the ship, where dolphins poked their heads up, laughing with wide grins.

Levi began circling the deck. “The only creatures a shark fears are dolphins, and they have always protected me when I needed them.”

The king laughed, enjoying this. He too began to circle the deck. “Do you think this makes you gallant? I’m surprised. Did that shit head of an uncle teach you honor?”

Then, Levi smiled. “No. Only monsters play in the sea, and I’ve been swimming since I was born.”

His father’s smile faded, and they collided. Levi threw himself into the fight with everything he had, but measuredly, keeping his mind clear to block attacks and to conserve his energy. He was fighting a king, not another pirate, and his father knew this.

“Don’t hold back,” he urged, catching Levi’s wrist tightly enough so the smaller man leapt, twisting so his legs locked around the king’s throat and they tumbled onto the deck. Levi’s blade sliced his cheekbone before Levi jumped away on his feet. His father brushed a thumb over the laceration, also rising to his feet. His livid gaze rose, and locked on Levi’s tongue sliding across his knife, tasting him.

He hummed deep in his throat, rolling the taste around his palette before spitting it insultingly at the king’s feet. Despite being the king of water, he had a fiery temper, which he lunged towards Levi. He parried the blows and landed cuts on the man’s arms, but the knife was knocked jarringly from his wrist as the king squeezed the tendon in Levi’s forearm and struck the slope of muscle controlling his hand.

 _“AH!”_ he cried, leaping away while the king claimed the blade as his own. Levi’s fingers trembled as his muscle tried to recover from the blow, and he could see a bruise spreading beneath his flesh along the tendon.

But he didn’t have time to wait for his hand to work. He pulled a hatchet from his belt and met the king’s strike, crossing his temporarily useless forearm behind his other as they braced against each other. Levi struck out with his leg, right in the groin and then kicking his knee out from under him. The king cried out but grabbed Levi’s throat on his way down.

Levi fell partially over him. He brought the hatchet down, but it had twisted in his grip, so the butt end of it struck the king's nose. Blood ran into his beard as the man roared and rolled. Levi felt his shoulder blades slam onto the deck, his lungs empty.

His father smiled above him. “You don’t know what you’re doing, boy.”

Levi felt hands enclose around his throat once more as he rasped, “I know I’m the only heir you’ve got.”

The smile faltered, and Levi continued. “I can feel it in the sea. I can feel it in your blood. Whoever your grandmother was, she wasn’t your grandfather’s first choice, was she? I’m the only claim to the throne you’ve got, because my bloodline falls from the true king and _his_ queen—”

His words were choked off as his father’s anger flexed in his hands. Levi’s hand finally regained feeling and movement, so he thrust out, clawing his fingers inside one of the king’s eye sockets. He screamed, rearing back, but one eye short. Levi jerked his arm out, tossing it to the water, where a shark’s nose broke the surface and jaws closed around the eyeball.

Levi coughed and stood. “What’s the matter? You can’t get off unless someone’s crying? You’re not the first worthless _fuck_ I’ve killed.”

He had both hatchets out, but his father rose to his feet with the knife. His full force of anger and strength emerged, and Levi danced around him, twisting, twirling, dodging the powerful blows and trying to wear the man out. One hit, and Levi would be finished, but the king never let him get close enough to return the gesture.

“And from what I gather,” Levi added, “Your people don’t seem to like you much.”

“You’re not wrong,” he bellowed, thrusting for Levi’s groin, but the smaller man sprang backward. “You’ve got a following of annoying rebels who seem to believe love rules a kingdom, not power.”

Levi coughed as a bare fist collided with his diaphragm, and then his cheekbone. He landed on the deck with a second to spare before he rolled away, the king’s dagger embedded in the wood where he previously lay.

Water splashed across the deck as a shark and squid grappled in the water. Levi used the distraction and the man’s single eye to his advantage and barreled into him. The air knocked from his lungs as he crashed into the mast of the sloop, but he somehow managed to duck beneath Levi’s swing. His hatchet caught in the wood, and Levi was now the one being tackled across the deck.

Again, Levi landed hard on his back, but when his father stood over him, a flick of his wrist sent his last hatchet twirling in the air. He stumbled back a step when it landed deep in the bend of his shoulder and neck, dangerously close to two major arteries. Jerking it out of his body, the king threw it into the sea, where a shark mistakenly rushed to swallow it.

In the meantime, however, Levi had gotten to his feet, breathing be damned since he didn’t waste time filling his lungs. He didn’t have oysters this time, but he jumped and aimed for that eye, using every last bit of strength his bare hands contained to shatter his father’s skull like a shell.

But then his large hands gripped Levi’s ribcage, and he threw Levi off of him. Levi flew through the air, further than the distance to the deck allowed, and then his body was breaking the surface of the water.

He dared not open his eyes. He knew what a shark looked like, he didn’t need to see it’s jaws opening for him—

A distinctly slimy arm wrapped around his ankle, and yanked him down. Levi’s eyes abruptly opened in time to see a silver flash that was a dolphin blocking a shark’s path. His gaze lifted as his body sank, observing the ring of dolphins around him, fighting shark and squid alike for him. The dark, hulking shapes of buildings rushed passed him as he was pulled through the underwater avenue of the town. Levi tried to look at the octopus dragging him lithely through the water, but bubbles tingled across his face and a wide spurt of ink eclipsed his vision.

Then, he had another issue: he couldn’t breathe.

“Mmh!” he cried weakly, trying to alert the kraken to his needs, but water kept gushing past him…

Warm hands closed around the sides of his face, and Levi felt lips pushing his apart in the darkness. Air pushed down his throat and into his lungs, but in his surprise it rushed out just as quickly through his nose. The lips didn’t leave his, though, and he desperately clutched at whoever was breathing for him, filling his lungs.

The tentacle around his ankle loosened, and he felt human arms envelope him safely against a large torso. Levi’s arms went around the person’s neck and he gripped his elbows as he opened his eyes, recognizing a long, blue and green fin ending with a white plume powerfully cutting through the water.

Levi felt something akin to leaves on his backside, and a second later his head breached the surface. Erwin’s mouth left his, and Levi was free to look around at the ferns and palms of the sandy forest near the base of the mountain he and Erwin had been in just hours previously. The ocean was receding quickly, now, but the sloop and the king aboard it were nowhere to be seen.

Levi peered down at himself and his ink-stained shirt before he met Erwin’s gaze. Both of their chests were heaving. The last of the evening light was fading on the wet sand, the orange glow changing to blue. Erwin and his massive, beautiful tail were stranded unless he chose to walk.

As if realizing this, he inhaled deeply and asked, “I don’t suppose I could borrow some clothes?”

Levi scowled and felt the bruise forming along his cheekbone as he turned his glare toward the ocean. “As if anything would fit you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I hate me too.


	7. Fish Out of Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the lull between battles descends on the cove, Levi uses the time to even the odds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh good grief, I hate how long it's taking me to get these to you, but VOILA! Read on, lovelies.

Erwin entered the room wearing the breeches Petra had managed to find for him, and Levi unceremoniously threw a shirt at him in passing. Most of the cove’s inhabitants had returned by morning, but everything was soaked. People were roasting and boiling left over crabs and fish in the streets while others took boats out to sea to recover barrels of fresh water; others just carried it from the river on the other side of the mountain. Either way, the massive clean up had begun, starting with laundry.

“Levi, where are you going?” Petra called from one of the many clotheslines they’d tied across the _Underground Inn_ ’s parlor. He did not answer, instead striding out of the inn silently. He hadn’t slept all night, instead starting the first loads of laundry and scrubbing the inn clean of fish, seaweed, sand, and salt residue. Now he was caught between desperately needing to sleep and desperately needing to stay awake; the dichotomous urges making him feel as if his mind was simultaneously flying and drowning.

He went to the only place that ever gave him solace, but which also held as much misery in the memories it contained. The bells had survived the tsunami, and were singing lethargically, announcing the coming of a new twilight. The harbor was mostly empty, just a few men and women gathered around skillets steaming with the last of the straggling shellfish. Some of the ships had been tied to the docks once more, and Levi chose the largest: a galleon with a high stern deck, oddly private for being a vantage point.

Levi settled against the back of the ship, already lulled by the caressing sway of the ocean. There he watched the stars emerge one by one, until the sky splashed with the cold blues and purples of galaxies instead of the sunset. He found himself on his knees with his chin nestled on his forearms gazing over the railing. If he didn’t look back, the sky and the sea formed one seamless vista, an endless bowl of stars and color. Gaping darkness that was oddly so bright, he could see the grain of the wood around him.

When he heard the first footfall, he suspected an angry ship owner had come to shoo him off the ship, but when the treads continued steadily, almost gently over the deck and up the stairs, Levi knew who it was. “What do you want, Erwin?”

There was a pause, during which Levi did not turn around to face him. “To apologize. I never suspected he would make such an attack so soon. I was not able to get here in time. If I had…I am sorry for the deaths of your friends. The young man and woman.”

“You didn’t know them,” Levi accused.

“I knew them through you,” Erwin’s voice rebuked gently. “I know you want to bury them, and I’m sorry you can’t.”

Levi was silent for a long time. When he finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “You don’t know me either…but you do. How do you know me as if it’s been years and not the minutes we’ve spent together?”

“Because I’ve known you longer than you’ve known me,” Erwin admitted. “I have put you at a disadvantage and we are thus imbalanced. Your crew consisted of my trusted comrades, and I have often visited your ship when I had the time to do so. I cannot inspire you to trust me even though I have trusted you time and again for the care of my friends, for the care of innocent lives, for the justice you’ve shown across the sea.”

“Justice?” Levi all but spat. “I’m a fucking pirate. Call me what I am and what I do honestly. I kill people for gold just as any other.”

Erwin corrected, “I’ve seen men hook and net whales, porpoises, and turtles out of nothing more than curiosity. I’ve seen animals killed for greed, killed for meat or fuel before they were thrown back to the ocean as carcasses or surplus leftovers. I've seen them do the same to fellow human beings, whether it was out of spite or hunger. You are not like them, and you never were. You took what you had to for survival, and you treated those below you as was necessary. You may not have known it before yesterday, but you were a prince among scoundrels, and have always distinguished yourself.”

“I’m a thief…and a murderer,” Levi stated darkly. “I’m the product of incestuous rape and my proudest achievement is making my father look like the squid he relies upon…at least it’s one less eye like mine.”

He felt the boards react to Erwin’s tread beneath his knees as the man approached. “Like yours? I never noticed a resemblance.”

“My eyes are grey, you twat,” he snapped, albeit softly. “Like a shark’s tail.”

“Hmph,” Erwin harrumphed. He lazily entangled a hand in the net of rigging beside Levi, letting his arm hang there as he gazed out to sea. “I disagree. Your eyes are lighter, like a dolphin’s flesh, sometimes blue, as when fractals of light illuminate the creature underwater.”

Levi’s face nestled deeper in the crooks of his elbows. _Like my mother’s,_ he hoped, but aloud he scoffed, “Don’t get poetic about eyes. I removed one yesterday.”

Erwin chuckled, and the way his voice rumbled in his chest made Levi wonder how he sounded when he sang… “How often do you sing?”

Then, Erwin was silent. Levi wondered, “Is it rude thing to ask in your culture?”

“Depends on who you ask,” the blonde provided. “Why are you asking?”

Levi inhaled deeply, staring at nothing. “No reason.”

Far away, he heard the rustle of Erwin’s clothes as he knelt beside him. “You should sleep.”

Levi inhaled and exhaled in the same deep way, relishing the support of the ship around him, the rocking of the sea. “I can’t sleep on land…not really. Never could.”

The air moved with Erwin’s exhale, and Levi felt his hand on his shoulder blade. “Are you wishing to sleep here?”

Levi’s eyes opened, unable to remember when he closed them. “I should…it will be the last night of sleep for a long time.”

He finally turned to face Erwin, whose brow was puzzling. “What do you intend?”

Easing off his knees, Levi trod a couple steps to the center of the deck, taking one last look at the sky before he lay to rest. “Have you been in a city? It’s loud and bright…nothing like here. You can’t see the stars and all the cities are so far…you can’t hear the sea.”

Erwin stood beside him. “Why would you journey inland?”

“Because this place needs ships,” he sighed, rubbing his fatigued eyes. “Your king is weak when he's out of the water. If you want any hope of winning, you’ll need to bring the fight out of the sea. You need ships, and there’s only one man rich enough to spare as many as is necessary.”

He met Erwin’s expectant gaze with jaded annoyance. “Out of one king’s frying pan and into another’s fire.”

Erwin’s features hardened briefly. “You won’t go alone.”

“Of course not,” he sassed. “Hange’s so annoying she’s makes for a wonderful people repellant; this makes her indispensable. After Hange, Petra’s the smartest of the lot, although Oluo loves to try.”

Erwin’s voice rumbled in his chest again. “If you intend to bring Hange, you will be acquainted with Moblit.”

Levi peered at him. “Who’s that?”

“Her lover,” he responded casually. “He is close with Nanaba, the mate of my second in command, so he remains underwater where he is most useful, but he will not let Hange stray so far. He is loyal, and just as intelligent as she, though without the…repellant.”

Levi was not sure how to process that. He felt largely inclined to grimace at the notion of Hange _in love_ with some poor fool, but mostly he felt curiously puzzled as to how someone supposedly intelligent had attached themselves to such an eccentric woman; part of Levi had always expected Hange preferred women, the way she constantly flirted with Petra.

“Nor will I,” Erwin added, causing Levi to wonder if he’d been talking this whole time.

He stared vacantly at the tall blonde. “Nor will you what?”

Erwin’s gaze was steady. “Let you stray so far. The king may be a fish out of water, but you are not so different. I will feel more comfortable if I am with you.”

“No,” Levi said almost immediately. At the renewed furrow in Erwin’s brow, he amended, “You’re needed here. The cove needs reparations, defenses that you can oversee. You must remain with the sea.”

“The same could be said for you,” he countered. “Levi, Hange and Petra will be at a distinct disadvantage once you pass over the mountain. Women are not treated in the cities as they are out here. And Moblit, bless his patience, will be at his wits end with managing Hange’s nerves as well as his own so far from home.”

“What then?” Levi challenged. “Do you intend to leave… _Mike_ in charge while you’re gone?”

“Yes, exactly,” he nodded.

Levi’s arms crossed as he shifted his weight, both to put a little distance between himself and Erwin, but also to contemplate this rationally. “If Moblit is close to Mike and his mate, than it is better to send your second while you remain here.”

“Levi,” Erwin rebuked firmly. “The king’s forces are recuperating at the moment. We have time for the two of us to run this errand.”

“It is not an errand,” Levi snapped. “This is critical, and if we have time, then _he_ has time. If another surprise attack comes, then I want you and that kraken here to fight it.”

“Are you telling me you would have individuals you’ve never met come with you rather than me?”

Levi’s jaw hung uselessly open, blindsided by Erwin’s intuition. After a moment he managed to shut it, but his swallow was dry. He shook his head. “Pearls are just pearls on land, Erwin. Stay here.”

Erwin closed the gap between them, but Levi wasn’t interested in craning his neck to hold his gaze. He let his chin drop while his eyelids drooped at the touch of Erwin’s fingers raking through his hair, his palm cradling the side of his head. “In spite of everything, you don’t trust me yet.”

The words were not far from Levi’s own thoughts, but hearing them aloud was harsh on his ears. The man _had_ saved him thrice and was uncannily chivalrous when he wasn’t being pushy…

“I don’t trust myself when you’re near me,” he reiterated. “I don’t understand this effect when you’re near.”

A gasp escaped his lips when Erwin pressed a soft kiss between his brows. It was so far from the reaction he expected, so gentle. Erwin began a lazy trail of kisses from Levi’s forehead, on his temple, his cheekbone, and the joint between his mandible and jaw. “Is it so difficult to believe you might like me, Levi?” he whispered.

Levi scorned his shaky breath. “I’ve never liked anyone.”

“Then I am honored,” he purred with a lilt of mirth in his tone. “Although I must confess that what I feel for you goes beyond mere liking.”

Levi briefly wondered if the part of Erwin’s hand on his throat could feel his spike in heart rate, but he played it off with, “You want to fuck me. Say it how it is.”

“I want to make love to you,” Erwin corrected firmly, pecking light kisses across the pinna of his ear. “I want to manipulate your body to mine, until you cannot like anyone else but me.”

“To what end?” he breathed as those lips descended to his throat. Erwin’s other arm had snaked around his waist. “You’ll have a prince as your pet so you can be king?”

Erwin abruptly lifted his head, his stern gaze boring into Levi’s hooded one. The hand on Levi’s throat lifted so its thumb could delicately graze his lower lip. “You don’t realize how much I am your slave, Levi. I have often been accused of being a proud man, the worst kind, but with you I am utterly weak. There is one person I would kneel before, and if I must do so for him to understand, I shall.”

Levi’s head fell back when Erwin pressed a firm kiss beside his adams apple, commencing another line of kisses over his collarbone and sternum, unbuttoning his shirt until he knelt eye-level with his belt. His fingers curled underneath the waist of his breeches while his forefingers worked at the laces.

“N-No, don’t,” Levi intervened, holding onto Erwin’s forearms to remain upright.

His large hands abandoned the laces to grasp Levi’s hips, holding him in place while he nuzzled Levi’s groin, breathing hot air through the fabric. “Why not?” he asked as Levi’s already sensitive erection swelled against his face. “If you insist on traveling without me, I must give you a reason to return to me.”

“I’m going to get a fleet for your stupid rebellion,” Levi snapped weakly. Erwin’s lips were kneading his flesh through the fabric, its fibers and his breath causing shivers to travel through his pelvis and up his spine. “Is that not promise enough?”

Mischief shimmered in Erwin’s blue eyes when he lifted them to Levi’s. “It is. I do this because I want to. I like hearing your sighs and my name on your lips.”

Levi’s shoulders slumped and he found renewed strength in his legs. “You’re a conniving shit.”

Erwin laughed, tugging the breeches down and freeing Levi’s cock as he said, “This we both know.” His chuckles faded and he licked from Levi’s tip to base. His thumb swirled over the tip and the bud of nerves on the underside while his lips and tongue teased his balls. Levi moaned deep in his chest when that tongue pressed into the soft flesh under his scrotum, and the sound morphed into a gasp when Erwin gripped the back of his thigh.

“Sit with me,” Erwin urged, his fingertips raking the backs of his thighs, prying them apart and sending tingles ricocheting through Levi’s core.

“Erwin,” he hesitated, gripping his shoulders. “I let you distract me last time…but I don’t want that now. I don’t want this feeling to be a means of escape…I don’t want to depend on you like that.”

He swallowed thickly, his shame sitting heavily in his diaphragm as Erwin processed this. After a moment, his eyes softened. “I understand,” he said, and tucked Levi’s erection within his trousers before lacing them back up. “It is loyal of you to mourn properly, and I appreciate your consideration for our relationship.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Levi growled, more angry with himself than Erwin. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes as he explained, “I just refused a mind blowing experience. Something is obviously wrong with me.”

Erwin chuckled, pulling the back of Levi’s knees so they buckled and he fell astride Erwin’s lap. “Kiss me, then, and allow me to lie with you tonight. I don’t need sex to relish your body against mine.”

His chin lifted expectantly, and Levi’s instinctively dropped. He tentatively lowered his lips to Erwin’s, hyper aware of the feeling of their contact before he closed his eyes and allowed himself to melt into Erwin’s touch. His head tilted while his arms slid around Erwin’s neck, loosely draping over his wide shoulders so their chests were flush together. Levi’s cock still ached inside his breeches, but a part of him felt at ease doing no more than this, kissing Erwin and feeling him, learning each other slowly.

A wonderful thrill dragged up Levi’s spine as Erwin rocked him back, lying him down on the deck but never breaking their kiss. Erwin nestled between Levi’s legs, holding himself on his elbows while he slowly ravished Levi’s mouth, never protruding with his tongue, but savoring his lips while is fingers lazily carded through the ebony hair. At some point, Erwin maneuvered him onto his side, and the last thing Levi felt before he drifted to sleep were Erwin’s kisses along his neck as his large body curled around Levi’s from behind.

He awoke to the low baritone of Erwin’s voice speaking to someone. The dawn still painted the world dark blues and greys, so the harbor was not bustling with people yet as Levi stood and went to the railing. Erwin rested on his forearms, gazing down into the water before he felt Levi beside him. He leaned in to kiss Levi’s throat. “Good morning, love.”

Levi frowned sleepily at the water and realized there was a person in the water. The man’s hair was sandier than Erwin’s and tawny stubble grew on his chin, and around him spanned the wide arms of Marie. Her bulbous gold eyes glistened as the man’s gaze locked on Levi with great intrigue. With a thrust of his forest green and brown tail, he rose out of the water, leering toward Levi’s face. He stood frozen as the man’s prominent nose lightly grazed his throat, inhaling deeply.

The man’s large hands gripped the rail as he leaned back with a slight smirk on his face. Levi barely stifled a scowl. “Mike.”

He nodded, “Ackerman,” and lithely fell back into the water as if gravity had no pull over him.

“I will give him my clothes so he may join with you and Hange,” Erwin informed.

“Just the three of us?” Levi guessed, fully awake now.

“You, Hange, and Mike are the most capable,” Erwin confirmed, “and the three of you will travel swiftly. The terrestrial king’s navy is stationed at multiple ports around the capital, which is a two weeks’ journey from here. If one of you isn’t back by the turn of the month to report, we will storm the ports to find you.”

Mike smirked. “I’ll just push Levi into the water at every port, shall I? You’ll know he’s alive, then.”

“I’ll break your teeth so far into your gums you’ll lose your sense of smell,” Levi threatened as deadpan as if he were reciting a recipe.

Mike’s eyes darkened but otherwise he gave no reaction. “And here I thought I would grow bored.”

Erwin was lifting his shirt over his head, followed by his trousers, causing Levi to pivot away from the view. Mike’s tail dissolved underwater and he climbed up the rungs of the hull to the deck. Levi was momentarily baffled how the man was slightly taller than Erwin, who stood a head taller than Levi.

His observation was cut short when the blonde captured Levi’s lips for a long and thorough kiss. His fingers tangled in Levi’s hair while his demanding mouth caused Levi to rock onto his toes before he firmly pushed him away. “I can’t have two unsatisfied cock stands!” he scolded. “See you in a month.”

Erwin chuckled and held firm for another quick peck before he vaulted over the edge of the ship. Levi was about to march into the harbor when he did a double take at the massive, saggy head peeking over the edge. Marie was suctioned to the hull, peering at him and causing the ship to lean slightly. A couple of her tentacles draped over the edge, reaching for him. Levi let the creature wrap its rubbery arms around him.

“Thanks for rescuing me,” he admitted gruffly. “Twice.”

He placed a palm between those gold eyes, causing the octopus to tremble and its voice to shiver oddly. Mike chuckled behind him. “You have an admirer.”

“As if Erwin wasn’t large enough,” he sighed. “Look after that fool, will you?”

The kraken yipped and released him, vanishing in the water with nary a splash. Levi turned to see a fully dressed Mike. “Come on. For all I know, Hange could be sleeping in a crate somewhere. I thought…Moblit…wouldn’t let her go anywhere without him?”

“He knows how to follow an order,” Mike provided. “He is the clingy one, but they do just as well apart as they do together. Sometimes it’s as if Hange forgets she has a lover.”

Levi raised a brow of acknowledgment. That did not surprise him in the least. The woman herself proved easy to find: she snored with a tankard in hand on the floor beneath the lines of laundry at the inn. Levi sniffed the stein’s contents and winced. Grog was a foul concoction of water and rum, usually due to the water going slimy from being in a barrel too long. He poured it over her smarmed goggles.

She snorted upright, the back of her head matted with salt. Wiping the lenses with her bare fingers, she stared up at them. “Hoa, Mike! I’m sure you’re already aware of what a shit the captain is.”

“Liking him more every minute,” Mike chuckled, extending a hand to help her to her feet. She coughed against the cloth that landed on her face.

“Clean your fucking eye ware properly,” Levi commanded. “They look like you’ve wiped shit over them. You’ll be no good to us blind.”

“Oh?” she chimed curiously, wiping the goggles without removing them. “What’s the agenda?”

Levi scowled and yanked them off as gently as he could to clean them himself. “You lot need ships, so we’re going to commandeer some from another royal prick.”

“Isn’t it _we_ need ships?” she countered, blindly approaching for her glasses. Mike intercepted her by placing a hand on her head and turning her in the right direction. Levi pressed them to her face and she positioned the leather thongs under her hair.

“Whatever. Gather food and supplies before we try not to get arrested,” he declared.

By the time the sun cast long shadows over the cove, the three of them were nearly at the tip of the mountain. On the other wide would be an inn featuring a stable with horses to take them further inland. Levi had relayed the situation to Petra, who in turn was leading the rest of the crew in the clean up of the cove and whatever Erwin needed.

Levi was inspecting the saddle on the black horse he’d been given when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Where you off to, nephew?”

Kenny Ackerman approached beside him, lifting the stirrup to examine the buckle and strap underneath the horse’s girth, ensuring it was secure. Levi petted under the creature’s forelock as he circled to its other side to fasten the saddlebags. “Keep your curiosity to yourself, old man. You’ve got a kid to take care of.”

“That kid used to be you,” he reminded, petting the horse’s firm neck. “I have the right to know why my kin is going inland, of all places.”

“Don’t pretend fondness,” he goaded. “It never suits you.”

Without batting an eyelash, Kenny warned, “I will fold Mikasa into one of these saddlebags, and let you take care of her. You know she’ll fit. Her runty friends would too.”

Levi resigned himself to a brief explanation. “We’re traveling over land to royal ports for supplies. It’s hardly different from what I usually do on the sea.”

“Hardly different meaning you will be extremely out of your element and outnumbered by those who are not,” he pointed out.

“I can’t very well steal a ship here and hope to sneak into a harbor,” Levi retorted. “Most pirates look like tanned leather and are stamped with more tattoos than a postage parcel. My comrades and I will go unnoticed.”

“CAPT’N LEVI!”

“Oh sweet hell,” he breathed, letting his forehead fall against the saddle before he turned to confront Eren Jaeger. His small feet pattered over the stray bits of hay while he wore the most ludicrously jubilant smile on his face. “Don’t you have parents?”

Just as quickly, his grin transformed into a stubborn pout. “They’re helping the others in the cove! Papa’s a surgeon and Mama’s an apothecary.”

“Eren, wait!” another voice called, and the blonde boy named Armin rounded the corner of the stable before skidding to a halt, his blue eyes shot wide.

“Armin!” Eren chimed, waving him over. “Come here! Meet Capt’n Levi!”

The small blonde was as scrawny as Eren, but he obediently scurried forward. Eren hugged an arm around the boy, whose fist unconsciously clenched Eren’s filthy green shirt.

Levi’s attention jerked downward, where Mikasa had crept beside him and taken his hand. _These kids sneak around like pilot fish,_ he thought.

“When will you be back?” she asked quietly.

“Depends on what we run into,” he answered honestly. “We’re aiming for a month.”

“The capital?” Armin unexpectedly piped. When eyes turned to him, his chin dropped as he explained, “Mitras is approximately a fortnight away. The return trip would accumulate to fourteen days, seventeen with traffic or horse troubles, and after they completed their errands for which they’re traveling…it would be a month…”

He visibly shrank under Levi’s scrutiny. The captain examined the timid, albeit brilliant child and the rambunctious brunette holding onto him. “Eren, keep him. He’ll keep you alive.”

Armin’s bright eyes lifted, invigorated by the compliment. Eren appeared puzzled, but he smiled just as brightly, hugging him tighter.

Armin ducked behind Eren when Hange and Mike emerged behind Levi with their own horses saddled and ready. Levi didn’t blame him when Hange squawked and knelt before Mikasa. “OOOH! A litt _ler_ Ackerman! You’re so pretty!”

Mikasa’s expression was as placid as Levi’s, staring at the navigator evenly. “Huzzah,” Hange laughed nervously, “Levi’s female doppelganger. That’s uncanny.”

Mikasa’s arms silently reached upward, and Levi acquiesced by hoisting her against his hip. Juxtaposed to Hange, Mike and Kenny’s handshake was silent. “Dare I say it, she’s my Armin,” Levi whispered.

Mikasa’s head turned to Mike. “Except he’s keeping you alive.”

They both examined the large man for a moment, and then Levi kissed her hair. “I’ll keep myself alive. Until I see you again, if you see anyone with a squid tattoo, you run to Kenny, all right?”

Her head lowered to his shoulder. “You’re going somewhere dangerous,” she deduced.

His chin rested on her cranium. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be back. Take care of Kenny, but don’t take shit from him. Take care of your friends, but take care of yourself. Do you understand?”

She nodded, and to his surprise, she pecked a kiss on his collarbone before wiggling out of his grasp. He watched her take Eren’s hand and then the children scampered off. When his gaze returned to his comrades, Hange was crying. His eyes widened. “Don’t you dare.”

“AAAAHH!” she cried, collapsing on him so her arms nearly choked him. “THAT’S SO PRECIOUS! No wonder Erwin loves you!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Levi bellowed, shoving her off.

“Oh, too soon,” she hummed, smiling tranquilly behind her foggy glasses. Levi jerkily straightened his shirt, inadvertently propping up the collar before he gracefully swung a leg over his horse’s saddle. Kenny’s hand extended, and Levi grasped it in a silent farewell.

He set off at a brisk trot out of the stable, and behind him Kenny said to Mike, “Don’t let the dwarf get killed.”

Mike’s head tipped to the side. “We’re counting on the same from him.”

Kenny harrumphed and followed the children out of the stables. Hange frowned vacantly. “Was that a sound of derision or esteem?”

Mike sniffed and contemplated the scent of Kenny’s wake. “A bit of both.”

“We better go,” Hange announced, “before Levi outruns the epiphany I dropped on him.”

As they mounted their horses, Mike inquired, “Have you told him there’s a way for him to breathe underwater?”

“Almost, but then a tsunami interrupted me,” she answered, leading the gallop after their captain.

The man in question was already a half mile down the road, fuming. He knew Erwin was infatuated with him for certain reasons, but he had just begun to accept he might have a modicum of reflective sentiment. The notion that Erwin _loved_ him…well, hadn't he admitted to as much already? Levi refused to think on it.

He heard Mike and Hange’s hooves behind him, and slowed to a walk. The day progressed with little to no conversation. Mike was not overly chatty, and Hange could keep a running dialogue with herself, so Levi was able to mull inside his own thoughts as his body felt the pull of the sea growing longer and longer, and achingly stronger with every step. They exchanged horses at a way station and rode through the night since he was not likely to sleep and, even though the others kept it to themselves, they also grew more restless as they traveled deeper through the rural lands.

They had to pay a fare to cross through a valley the next morning, but the relief they felt upon sighting their first seagull was worth it. Before midday they had arrived in the nearest port. It looked strange on this side, since Levi had only seen it from the perspective of the sea.

A massive clock tower chimed the quarters of the hour and bronze statues on towering plinths paid homage to navy admirals long since deceased, their cast bronze uniforms and badges of honors turned green with age and splattered with bird shit. The wharf was bustling with commerce as ships unloaded their cargo and fisherman hauled in their morning catch. Mike’s sniff drew Levi’s attention to the open crates of fish, and the gnarled tentacles of squid embedded in chunks of ice for sale. They were no larger than his forearm, but their long heads and widely spaced eyes made him grimace and keep moving.

“We’ll take what’s not for sale when night comes,” Hange guessed, licking a stick of crystalized sugar she’d purchased.

Mike was playing with a sprig of lilac blossoms, observing but not saying anything while Levi’s eyes were on the buildings, and who came and went from them. “Split up,” he ordered quietly, catching the others off guard. Levi gestured with his eyes toward a large, greenish stucco building. “That structure holds the records of commerce, and if you know how to read the documents, you’ll know which shipments were granted the royal seal, without actual wax meeting parchment. Hange, that’s you.”

He pivoted to align his and Mike’s line of sight with a similar building stationed at the end of the wharf, embedded in the mountainside; it was painted with bright white stucco, with an elaborate portcullis as an entrance and columns held up the pediment. “That’s the governor’s house. I need to know what sort of people frequent it.”

“What have you noticed?” Mike nodded casually, bowing his head to breath in the scent of the petals in his hand.

He met the man’s gaze briefly before he stood from the stone barrier they were sitting on and entered the crowd, targeting a group of men gambling with cards and dice on a barrel like their table. There were others watching the game, and when Levi neared the circle, he rotated on the ball of his foot to check to make sure Hange and Mike were watching, and he then he rocked back on his heel, letting gravity pull him backwards.

For everyone intently watching the game, all they knew was some fool had just landed in the middle of their bets. The rotted barrel broke under Levi’s weight while cards, coin, and dice scattered. On his way down, Levi theatrically cried out and grasped at the men, pulling him down with him. They collapsed in a ball of writhing limbs and gruff curses. One of them knocked an elbow against Levi’s cheekbone in annoyance before Levi's fingers clawed under his belt; when he stood, his trousers remained, mooning the entire wharf. Levi’s other hand tore another sailor’s shirt, revealing a muscly shoulder.

“Fuckin’ wanker!” one of them cursed.

“Ge’the fuck out o’here!” the other warned, gripping Levi’s nape and throwing him across the boardwalk. He landed roughly, but stood easily and immersed himself in the crowd to rejoin Mike and Hange.

“Did you see them?”

“I’m not entirely sure who that one was trying to impress with a squid tattoo on his ass, but I admire your keen observation skills,” Hange quipped.

“You think your father has infiltrated the navy?” Mike reckoned.

For once, Hange was quiet as she proffered, “We have to be careful. We need to distinguish between spies and blokes who just want a squid on their back.”

“You’re right,” Levi agreed. “No one has looked twice at us, and they did not know who I was. All the other merpeople know me, but these are regular humans. That doesn’t mean they can’t be a part of a plot. That’s where the two of you come in. Infiltrate those buildings, and find out what’s going on.”

Hange’s eyes narrowed. “You’re thinking there could be a web connecting the ports to your father's successes…what are you planning?”

Levi matched her gaze. “Tear down the web.”

Mike’s brows disappeared beneath his curtain of hair. “Overthrowing one government before we topple another’s? This will take longer than a month.”

“Hardly the whole government,” Levi scoffed, “just the royal navy and trading enterprises. The written word stamped with wax is more valuable than gold, and there is a connection between the king pardoning pirates and the turmoil happening below the waves. If we investigate this properly, every port will be ours, and we will know what every ship is carrying, and for whom.”

Hange cackled enthusiastically, but she pointed out, “Erwin will not be happy about our delay.”

Levi’s gaze diverted to a fine man o’war ship with bleached white sails and a blue strip of cloth flying above its mast. “My ships. My rules.”

Hange cackled again Mike huffed through his nose in a laugh. Together they nodded, “Aye, Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you missed the reference, pilot fish are the stripped fish that swim alongside sharks, feeding off of parasites living on their skin and from the bits of meat sticking out of their teeth...like aquatic maids. Sharks don't eat them, and essentially swim around without even noticing them. Sneaky sneaky.


	8. Excuses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell, here it is! Here it is! I meant for you guys to have it this weekend but here's a cure to your Monday blues. Take it before something else distracts me from it!

“CCAAAPTAAAIIIN!”

Levi cringed as the hairs on his nape rippled. “What part of _stealth_ do you not fucking comprehend?”

Hange swiveled her head so she could see him crouched on the roof like a gargoyle. From her place in the window frame, the moonlight glinted off her spectacles. _“I found something!”_ she mouthed.

Levi rubbed circles over his eyes. Too loud or too quiet, Hange did nothing in half measures. Nevertheless, Levi nimbly gripped the ledge of the roof and swung his body down to her level. Inside was the office of the harbormaster, whose walls were lined with shelves of files. Levi saw they were carved from wood, and feared when Hange reached for one how loud the opening would be, but it rolled out almost silently. Levi almost respected the man for choosing such practical furniture, although if he were to walk in at this moment Levi could not promise whether he awoke the next morning with a dented skull or not at all.

“This is a series of records, like all the others in here,” Hange narrated, shuffling though the pages but not looking at them. “And then, there are _these_ documents.”

She shoved the papers, and they all rolled back within the confines of the furniture while flattened pages were revealed at the bottom of the drawer. Levi only had to peek at the imprinted seal to know what it was. “The royal pardons.”

“Aye,” Hange nodded and gazed around the room, “and something tells me every drawer in here is hiding them.”

Levi sighed and strode back to the window. “Then get to it. Use your annoyingly keen memory, but take nothing. Notice any shifts in activity that might relate to our own events. I’m going to check in with Mike and then see to a certain ship.”

Hange wiggled her fingers over her shoulder, humming a tune while she already scanned over the hidden pages. Levi kept to the shadows of the rooftops, and within no time he was hidden among the colorful foliage of the terrace next door to the governor’s mansion. The house was alight with some sort of festivity, and Levi did a double take at the parlor on the second floor, where Mike was indulging in a glass of brandy and laughing along with someone whose pompous wig indicated he was the governor.

Plucking a pebble off the lapis tiles, Levi aimed, and the rock hit Mike square in the cheek. He glanced at Levi before dismissing himself from the company. Entering the governor’s own terrace, he leaned on the railing while Levi joined him. “I didn’t mean for you to actually get inside the place.”

“The governor has good taste for spirits but horrible taste in companions. It was obscenely easy getting into this party,” Mike murmured, draining the last of his brandy and set it on a quartz table nearby. “You were not wrong. The king’s merpeople have infiltrated this place. The economy has been thriving ever since your father extended his influence over the terrestrial country, therefore these people will not be lenient toward a newcomer.”

“They won’t notice a change,” Levi agreed. “A slight misprint in the paper work will give them their monetary tranquility while we reap the military benefits. Hange is working on it now. Can you track someone’s scent between cities?”

Mike smirked. “Give me a challenge, at least.”

“Can you track numerous people’s scents?”

“I’m ready to leave when you are,” Mike confirmed. “One of the tradesman mentioned not an hour ago that he has business in the next harbor over. He was hardly discrete in that it concerned the king, but the shadow of tattoos beneath his shirt revealed him to be one of the pardoned men.”

“Good. Grab Hange when you see first light. Half a mile towards the next port is a way station. I will meet you there. Have a horse ready for me.”

“And if you take too long?” Mike wondered.

“Don’t come back for me,” Levi ordered. A few short moments later, he was silently marching over the docks until he found the man o’ war with the blue flag fluttering with the breeze. Gold paint winked back at him: _King’s Might._

Levi’s eyes rolled. He’d never actually bothered naming a ship but if he did, it would never be something as pointless as this. One storm and the _King’s Might_ would topple like the stack of lumber it was.

Vaulting over the railing, Levi landed behind one of the guards pacing across the deck. Twisting his neck was easy enough, and Levi spared a second to carefully set the body in the shadow between the canons before he skipped up to the quarterdeck and then the higher poop deck where the next patrol stood. Levi could smell grog on the breeze as well as the foulest cheese. As he neared he could make out turquoise discolorations but the only time he devoted toward the food was when he threw it to over the edge to the fishes.

With the deck patrol incapacitated, Levi climbed over the stern of the ship to peer inside the captain’s cabin. No lights were on, suggesting he was already asleep or on land. Returning to the deck, Levi confirmed this and quickly rifled through the captain’s desk before eliminating the sentinels below.

As he bound the corpses in canvas and hemp, Levi could not help but smirk at the sound of the harbor bells tolling with the current. _Sing for your dead,_ he thought.

Next he climbed aloft and unwound the rigging to unfurl the triangular jib sails on the bow, enough for the wind to fill and pull the craft toward the sea. When the anchor was up but Levi was unsatisfied with the pace, he also worked free the mizzenmast’s sails toward the rear of the ship. As the ship pushed her way into the horizon, Levi kept the governor’s house as a landmark—it was certainly bright enough to replace a lighthouse at the moment.

When he deemed the ship far enough, Levi peered over the edge to where small waves lapped at the hull, dumbly bumping and curling against the glossy, pitched wood. “Oi, Marie,” he whispered.

Levi felt half a fool calling out to the onyx and sapphire waves, but the other half wondered if some part of him needed to touch the water for the kraken to get his message. He was not far from his home port, and if Marie kept close to that one, than it shouldn’t be out of the way to come here...or if Erwin was being over protective and sent her to trail him—

A harmonic mewl broke the surface of the water, and even in the darkness of night, Levi could make out the golden orbs staring up at him. His heart skipped into a faster rhythm at the sight of the creature slithering its way up the hull, all russet tentacles and engorged purple head. “Erm, wait, wait, this isn’t a casual summons. I need you and your octopus friends to take this ship back to my harbor. Do you understand?”

The ship keeled onto its side with the weight of Marie. Levi initially tried to level his weight against gravity, but a tentacle attached to his leg and he fell against the railing. Curses were on Levi’s tongue, ready to chastise the creature on how this was not an appropriate time for all this touching, but a second impulse induced him to place his palm between those bulbous gold eyes. Marie wiggled and sang a distorted melody, causing Levi to worry she might tear a chunk out of the ship in her excitement.

“Can you take this back home?” he asked again.

Those orbs only stared at him until a sound of breaching water reached his ears, and Levi leaned over to see two other krakens roiling beneath the surface. One was a startling blue, and the other was white but visibly faded to a sunset orange as it moved; both blended into the water so only their golden eyes and phosphorescence gave Levi points of reference.

“All right,” he confirmed. “I’m swimming back, but there are…disposables on deck. Erwin will know what to do with them.”

Marie gave her musical reply and Levi retrieved his hand, on which a thin layer of slime shimmered. Swan diving over the edge, Levi commenced his strokes toward the beacon that was the governor’s mansion. He only looked back to see the silhouette of the ship sailing as if on its own against the pink dawn sky. He had to make a detour once he reached the quay, since sailors were groggily starting their days and he did not want to be present when a select few noticed a man o’ war missing. If all went well on Hange’s end, there should be a record of a vessel leaving the port this morning, but Levi did not want to risk being seen otherwise. As it was, he doubted anyone would notice a trail of water disappearing into the forest on the edge of town.

He heard the neighing of the horses before he saw the way station, however it was still a shock when Hange sprang out from behind him. Levi reacted by punching her right in the heart. She dropped like a stone.

“Ah! Gah-hah…” she coughed. “My bosom…”

“Success?” Mike asked from his other side.

“Depends,” Levi responded, glancing at the whining figure on the ground. “Are the records sound?”

Hange regained her footing while a hand massaged her left breast. “Aye, aye, you twat. One man o’ war discretely cast out to sea while it’s crew have been discharged and transferred to other crafts. Can we get going? I need a drink and have details to discuss with you.”

Levi swung a leg over his mount and listened to Hange and Mike relay their findings. “The records show some sort of deal struck between the mer-king and the crown-wearing sand kicker. The king on land pardons servants of the sea, or pirates, which in turn work for the mer-king. Thing is, I doubt any of the landlubbers actually know what is happening and who they're working for. The pardoned pirates go into service on ships captained by the mer-king’s soldiers, and essentially become conquistadores. They’re licensed to pillage, plunder, and rape their way to silks and riches, which fund the mer-king and are totally out of the terrestrial king’s scope of influence. It’s not a bad deal, really. One king gets criminals out of the way, while the other gets servants to his cause.”

“You’re not supposed to admire the scheme, Hange,” Levi pointed out.

Her nose wrinkled with distaste. “Why shouldn’t I? Fighting someone who actually has a bit of intelligence in their skull is exciting! Otherwise this would all seem like a waste of time, or how we were the idiots who couldn’t defeat a walnut’s plan. I feel invigorated! The only thing that could make this better would be a game of dice and cards on the sand, with my main man holding a crisp tankard of rum for me…maybe some pineapple too…”

“Main man?” Levi scoffed limply, letting his eyes roll where they may.

Hange scrutinized him from the corner of her eyes. “It’s a figure of speech, but now that we’re on the subject, I’m wondering if you’ve been a sexually frustrated git for so long because your standards are so bloody high.”

Levi frowned at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Hange blew a raspberry and commenced, “Well I figured out pretty quick by the way you grimaced at every woman who approached you that you require a bit more girth betwixt the legs. And then it seemed as if there was always something wrong with the blokes who found you enticing: they smelled, or they had food in their teeth, they drank rum instead of ale, his raiment wasn’t clean enough, he can’t tie his cravat in a proper knot…always meaningless excuses.”

“I have every right to not want brown teeth and rum breath pointed at me in the middle of sex,” Levi retorted. “And if he doesn’t take care of his clothes, why the fuck should I assume his body is clean?”

A sniff was heard from Mike. “He has a point,” he seconded.

“But there have been clean ones!” Hange defended. “Remember that earl we sacked? Oh Mike, you should’ve seen this prat—a real pouf. He had a mole drawn in the shape of a heart and everything, but one look at Levi and I swear he didn’t mind his ship sinking as much. There isn’t a pile of gold big enough to convince me that what he whispered to you weren’t pleas to take him back to your cabin and fuck hard him enough to make the deck creak.”

Levi cringed and looked away. He remembered the earl well enough. He had smelled like overripe roses and strangely of curdled milk. He might have been pleasantly handsome underneath the powder caked on his face, but Levi would have had to burn his clothes for fear of pigment stains. He also relished fresh, sweet milk in his tea, or by itself on a solitary morning, and would never have been able to look at the white nectar again or else the curdled smell would fill his nostrils.

 _Do you know what one can do with a bushel of cherries?_ he’d whispered to Levi as Oluo heaved a wicker basket of the deep scarlet and purple fruit across the deck. Levi’s eyes had flicked onto the tongue running under the earl’s cheek, blatantly suggestive. To be honest, Levi had not had a clue what cherries had to do with sex, but he guessed that the man was suggesting fellatio. However once that tongue poked the interior of his cheek, tiny cracks had broken along the earl’s makeup and Levi had lost all notions of interest.

“What about Erwin?” Mike asked; such a simple question yet the current bane of Levi’s existence. “He’s clean enough.”

“Mm hm,” Hange hummed pointedly.

Levi peeked over and found the both of them staring at him. “I’ll wear your eyes on a necklace if you keep ogling me like that,” he warned.

“Oh come _on,”_ Hange whined. “I’m sorry I scared you earlier with the whole _love_ business, but you’ve got to admit your feelings some time. If not to me, then at least to yourself, or better yet, to Erwin.”

“It’s no secret among our ranks how he has feelings for you,” Mike proffered. “If it makes you feel better, he’s constantly teased over it. The _prince’s pearl_ he’s often called, among more derogatory things.”

This gave Levi pause. “But…he is the one who gave me one of his earrings,” he said, and suppressed the instinctive urge to reach up and feel the smooth pearl on his earlobe.

“They were Erwin’s,” Mike confirmed, “but he did not start to wear his until he gave the other to you.”

Levi’s shoulders slumped with this information tumbling in his mind. Was he the one being difficult? Granted, Erwin could have done better with an introductory handshake and a bit more courting, but then again, Levi imagined the tall blonde approaching him for such a thing. Levi tended to avoid handshakes as a subconscious rule, and he probably would have greeted such advancements more readily with a blade. However given the circumstances, Erwin had made the most of them, albeit being in this relationship longer than Levi was certainly pushing his patience. Levi could not deny the warm calm which came over him when Erwin was near, or the acute stirring in his groin when the man became particularly attentive…which was an unbearable reminder when Levi was stuck in a hard saddle.

Suddenly a sound escaped Hange’s throat, like glass screeching over pottery. Levi glanced at her and then downright glared at the blatant laughter bursting free from her. The horses’ ears swiveled toward the noise while she wiped streaks of tears from her cheeks. “BAHAHA! AHhaah…shit, you’re pouting…you’re actually pouting! I never expected you to be a romantic! Ha! Oh bollocks, to think _that_ was what it would take to get you hooked! I never would have pegged you for a sap!”

Levi yanked her goggles off, earning a shriek as a solid lock of hair came with it. “Give me back my eyes!”

“No,” he answered tersely. Laughter gone, Hange resigned herself to blindness for the rest of the trek to the next harbor, silently handing her reins to Mike as her guide. Levi did not trust her hygiene to wear the garment around his neck, but he let it hang from his saddle horn until another dawn rose above them. They traded horses and Levi finally relinquished her sight when they trotted through volcanic stone gates circa dinnertime.

He felt the same relief when he spotted the ocean, and while he knew moving from port to port was far better than dealing with the filth, traffic, and landlocked agony of the capital, he also knew that at some point he might have to make the journey in order to finalize the alterations in paperwork they were making, so the king and company themselves would be none the wiser. Until then, Levi shoved this into the rear of his mind and focused on the matter at hand.

This city was not going to be as easily manipulated as the previous one. For starters, it was a grungy stack of stone, causing the location of the necessary files to be identical to the baker was to the hemp salesman and the horseshoe smith.

“This place could use some character,” Hange grimaced. “You sure your tradesman came here?”

Mike nodded and silently pointed to one of the taller structures. Its only distinguishing features were new windows and its placement next to a short, squat shack with red curtains. “This place reeks of starch, tallow, and shaving cologne. Your documents and their posh handlers will be in here.”

Levi gave the structure another once over and nodded, but his gaze was already diverting to the sea. He longed to approach it, to dive in and search for oysters or crabs for a steaming…but his eyes locked on a peculiar vessel he had never seen before. “What the hell is that?”

Hange and Mike rotated and locked onto the ship quickly enough. “It looks like the redheaded lovechild between a blockade runner and a brig.”

Levi was not sure if her metaphor was regarding the ludicrous superstitions toward red-haired people or the faded red colors waving lethargically over the masts, but he could not say her likeness was wrong. The vessel was impressively large like a brig, meant to carry a substantial amount of cargo as well as guns, powder, and every manner of warfare necessary. What made it akin to a blockade runner was its rigging: the ropes cut across the deck in steep angles, supposedly able to harness the wind to make the craft slice forward like a blade. Levi had never seen one in action to verify the tales.

What set it apart from the other ships in the harbor, though, was its hull. “It’s armored,” Mike declared. “Those are steel plates.”

Levi was not sure whether to grimace or ogle the thing bobbing about as benignly as the other dormant ships. Where the water touched it the metal was already bubbly with rust and corrosion, but above it was still sleek and shined like scales. _Steel,_ the thought with a hint of wonder, because it could not be the same metal in his knives or buttons. It needed to be lightweight for a ship to wear it...and strong in order to defend it. Only the king’s forges could craft such a metal, and they would be sore to lose it.

“Well if the king is upgrading, we should keep up,” Levi announced under his breath. His silver-blue eyes slid over to a beautiful galley whose hull had been stained a rich, forest green. “And that emerald over there. Do what you two do best. I’ll handle the ships.”

They waited until nightfall again, but Levi was more than a little excited to get his hands on the newest additions to his fleet. The only deterrent was that he had never manipulated the rigging of a blockade runner before; after he eliminated the night watch sentinels, he would need to quickly get it out to see, but a lone man wandering aimlessly in the rigging of the most valued ship would raise more than a few eyebrows.

He started with the tall green galley named, _Valiance Cape._ He hadn’t a clue what that meant but he reckoned it was better than _King’s Might._

He whistled over the water, his brow damp from his exertions. “Marie.”

The wait was longer this time, which was to be expected, but three heads breached the surface when she arrived; three krakens ready for duty. “I’ve got two for you today,” Levi informed, “but the one is significantly heavier.”

He pointed in the direction of land and explained, “There is a large craft plated in metal over there. I’ll raise the anchor for you to take it away, but watch the sides. Rust bites deeper than clean blades.”

He hopes they understand but he did not waist time trying to interpret their sing-song language. He swan dived over the side and met the unwelcome surprise of Marie catching him beneath the surface. Due to malevolent experience with tentacles he shot up for air and saw the galley already swaying pleasantly while it was taken further out to sea.

Then a slimy arm wrapped around his leg. “Fucking Christ, Marie, I can swim!” he growled, but the octopus was already eagerly pumping her weight against the waves. This time she stayed high for Levi to break the surface and breathe, but it was hardly a better experience since her speed cast frothy splashes into his sinuses. By the time they reached the harbor, it was all Levi could do to not break into a coughing mess and alert guards of someone in the water.

He also faced a new problem: there were no rungs carved or nailed to the hull of the armored ship. _How am I supposed to get on this bloody thing?_

He peeked at the creature still holding him, the water lapped up the shore of Marie’s head while she gazed at him expectantly. “Give me a boost? _Not that much!_ ” he hissed when he surged upward. He hastily gripped the side railing and wrenched a leg free of her tentacles to climb onboard. The timing of his appearance had been horribly wrong, and for a split second he stared into the dumbstruck eyes of a sailor on his rounds.

For a long second neither of them did anything, and then it became a scramble for the sailor to find his pistol while Levi got his other leg over the railing. It was not the epitome of grace, but Levi lunged for the man’s shirt, grasping his lapels, and jerking his face against the nearest canon. His nose exploded in a red gush over the deck, but Levi twisted his neck the same instant the pistol fired.

“Fuck.”

The two guards on the bow and stern of the ship whirled around the same time guardsmen on other ships exclaimed at the noise.

“Shit,” Levi cursed under his breath as he hid in the shadows between the canons. Without even thinking about it he’d ducked into the tight space with the body, where he now scrubbed a hand over his eyes at the indignity of his situation. With Marie here, getting the ship out of the harbor was hardly a difficulty, nor was eliminating the guardsman, but on shore Hange and Mike were without orders for when things went awry.

Levi rapidly weighed his options: killing the other guards in full view of the alerted harbor would ruin their plan of covering their tracks regarding the stolen ships and diverted economy. His chances of hiding here forever or somehow slipping back into the water were slim to none, although if he made a break for it, Marie could have him out of this place and no one would think differently of a rogue murderer’s stab and dash. But he still needed a way to alert Mike and Hange to haul themselves elsewhere, preferably to the sea where they might be able to reach the next quay even faster than on horseback…

Levi hastily rummaged through his pockets for his flint and matchsticks. Once upon a time, the long twigs were proper matches, but after repetitive swims and plunders they were hardly more than warped pieces of tinder. He could hear the footfalls of the guards coming to search for their companion as he found his calico sack of powder. It always seeped through his raiment to smudge his torso black, but now he curled his arm unnaturally through the port hole to cram it into the canon’s muzzle without being seen. Between the angle and his inadequate arm length he knew it was not packed the way it should be, but it would have to do. Striking the flint with his knife, citrus orange sparks glittered over the matches, casting a hazy glow over his tiny corner of mayhem.

Finally some caught, although it was more of a smoke signal effect than proper fire. Nonetheless, Levi grabbed the bundle and raised them to light the—

“Gentlemen, you seem rather lively tonight.”

Levi froze, as did the tread falls barely meters from him. His heart rammed against his sternum, reverberating in the arteries of his throat during what felt like an hour of waiting for someone to speak.

“Didna you hear the pistol fire?” one of the sailors uttered. There was a strange note of confusion in his tone that Levi did not understand. He held his breath and ventured to rise up just enough to see over the canons…Mike stood casually on the ramp angling down to the dock from the other side of the ship.

“Who’re you, anyway?” the other sailor dared to ask.

Mike raised a brow. “Are you so thick you forgot your commanding officer or do you make it a habit of drinking on the job?”

“Captain Gleeghan’s our officer and above him’s Admiral Dok,” the former guard declared arrogantly. “If you’s an officer, where’s your colors? I don’t see the keys or unicorn on you.”

“Off duty,” Mike responded casually, “as you are now.”

One of the guards appeared puzzled whereas the other guffawed. “We’re not released from our stations until first light.”

Mike took a couple casual steps forward. “I’m telling you your watch is over. It’s bad enough to cause a false alarm to the other ships; obviously your training didn’t grind the arrogance out of you. Do I need to be clearer? Get off the ship.”

“It wasna false alarm,” they countered. “Randall’s disappeared the same time the shot rang off.”

“Perhaps you were unaware, but dearest Randall has a bit of a sugar problem, but not the sugar from the cane…if your small minds can comprehend that. He wouldn’t be the first sailor to overdose and fall overboard during his watch. Pistols misfire all the time.”

Levi frowned. _Where the hell is this going, Mike?_

The guards were peering at one another. “He seemed fine to me…”

Mike sniffed sharply. “It’s been some time since I spoke with Nile, but I don’t remember the Admiral being a patient man.”

The sailors finally got the message and gave a quick salute before scuffling off the ship. Even though the butt of a canon was in the way, Mike looked directly at where Levi was hiding. He sauntered across the deck while the smaller man eased out of the cramped space and glared when Mike sniffed again at the body by their feet.

“Who’s Nile?”

Mike’s expression opened innocently. “Old friend. Used to be one of us before he turned lazy with a dash of cowardice. Good man when he wants to be, though. It wouldn’t surprise me if he likes taking orders from a king but hasn’t any idea which one he actually works for. I’d be happy to tell him.”

The way he said the last bit made Levi wonder if this Nile and Mike had not been as friendly as he’d first implied. Then he added, “Erwin needs to be informed of this. Last we heard of Nile he was just a recruit in the King’s army. Having a player in the higher ranks could mean a great deal.”

“You’ve got your messenger,” Levi uttered, casting a glance over the ledge. A subtle smirk curved Mike’s lips when a tentacle splashed a few drops onto his face.

“Best wait a few hours before you take this one, Marie,” he advised, tapping his boot toe on the deck. “Let the hubbub die down.”

Levi scowled as he wiped his boot of blood with the pouch of powder he’d extracted from the canon. Mike observed him slipping it back inside his shirt to rest where the fabric was tucked into his trousers and lifted his brows. Levi peered up at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Just thought you’d store that elsewhere…given the right company.”

Levi blinked dumbly as the man began to stroll away. Like a canon going off inside his head, though, he chased after him. “Is that a fucking penis joke? Did you just—”

Mike’s laughter was a throaty chuckle, but it made blood boil up Levi’s throat. “The last person I need to impress is Erwin fucking Smith, and I wouldn’t be doing it with powder grinding my cock.”

“Whatever you say, Captain. You needn’t tell me,” Mike replied with his smirk. Despite their banter at Levi’s expanse, he concluded that he officially approved of Mike.

By the time they met back up with Hange, the woman was bouncing between the balls of her feet and heels, whistling an intricate tune. “Can we go, now? This place gives me the creeps. All this rock and concrete…”

“Is everything accounted for?” Levi queried.

Hange stepped in line with them so Levi never paused in his stride. “Oh sure,” she said, as if she counterfeited papers all the time. She had a hand on her nape and was stretching her neck while she asked, “What about you, Mike?”

He shrugged. “I managed to finish early with nothing we didn’t already know. I learned more on Levi’s end than anywhere else.”

Hange frowned at them. “What do you mean, Levi’s end?”

“He helped me with the armored ship,” Levi intervened. He would never hear the end of it if Hange knew the truth of his blunders. “He got some information out of the sailors.”

“Nile’s been promoted since we last saw him,” Mike relayed.

The ensuing look on Hange’s face was probably the first grimace Levi had ever seen on her. “Don’t get me started on that fucking prat. Erwin would have cut off his own head for him and he ran like his scales were embarrassing or something… Wait, does this mean we’re actually going inland?”

“Eventually,” Levi confirmed quietly. The very notion of spending time in a landlocked place where the posh ruled in their ivory towers while sewage wafted from beneath the roads made his stomach turn. “For now, let’s just finish this fucking expedition.”

Hange had acquired a map of the coast, allowing them to mark off ports as they went. The next two harbors went smoothly, with the only hindrances being Hange’s loud mouth and Mike accidentally inhaling pepper during lunch. He wouldn’t stop sneezing for three days and was surprisingly useless during that time.

Marie proved as overeager as always, but she was loyal when he called. Levi soon began to recognize personalities in the other krakens as well: the orange and white octopus seemed easily distracted by its own tentacles if left without a task, whereas the starlight blue one was swift and focused. Marie appeared to be the leader of the three, and Levi suspected this was due to Erwin’s tutelage. A week past their deadline, Levi half expected the man himself to show up with Marie and berate Levi for not following the plan. Instead, Levi sent Marie and her squad back with four ships, and she took the hint to bring along another octopus so dark that Levi could only make out its eyes in the night.

Hange kept track of the ships they transferred, and she was whistling over her papers on the morning they rode into the last port on their list. “Seven men o’ war, another seven galleys, four brigantines, two schooners, a sloop, and that armored thing,” she read off. “That’s a quite a fleet, if I do say so myself.”

“It’s not enough,” Levi countered. “Only the armored ship will give the squid a real challenge. We need more ships with unique capabilities.”

Hange blew a raspberry. “Well, if you want something special, you’ll have to travel upriver to ye old majesty’s fleet.”

Levi scowled. “Why would the king have his best ships inland? There’s no point. What pirates are dumb enough to go upriver to the capital directly? It’s not like the king’s expecting a fight there.”

Hange shrugged. “Boys and their toys, along with a shit ton of wealth and prestige, and you’ve got a monarch who probably just likes to sit on his veranda and watch the sails billow in the breeze.”

Levi shook his head as if a foul odor had traveled past his nose. “That’s disgusting.”

Hange cackled and said, “That could have been you if you kept everything you stole. It’s kind of strange to think how you could actually be richer than a king and yet you’re the poorest sod around.”

“Is there a point to this?” he queried. Even on his longest voyages, he could retreat into his cabin for alone time. Incessant hours turning into days turning into weeks of Hange were crippling his mental tranquility. Even Mike, for all his patience, had gone eerily quiet, although Levi suspected it was due to his oversensitive sinuses still in the progress of healing. It did not help Levi’s state of mind that he had not slept more than three hours in the last week and a half. He was something of an insomniac naturally, but even he had a limit. Deep down he was jubilant they could travel home on the ships they commandeered this time.

“Just saying,” his navigator quipped, “it’s funny you’re technically a king but are already known as the pirates’ poorest king—”

“Quiet,” Mike hushed, even though his voice was hardly above a whisper. Levi was glad for it since they were now in the heart of the city. This one was larger than the others, and emphasized it by erecting a gargantuan plinth in the center of town. Levi arched a brow and only craned his neck enough to deduce how the statue’s head was too high to be worth seeing. On its base, however, was a massive copper plaque gone turquoise with age. The letters _TR_ and _S_ were still legible on it.

Further on, after they had given their horses to a traveler’s station, Mike purchased them a round of ales and greasy sausages with chips at a pub near the docks. The building looked as if it had been cut in half, allowing sailors to stride right up to the bar and still be technically outside. Levi’s sausages were good, but his stomach growled even after he’d finished, wanting nothing more than a platter of lobsters steamed in butter and spices with a side of grilled mango and sugary soda bread that stuck to his ribs.

Then he remembered the bread was Farlan’s recipe, and his stomach no longer growled.

“What have you got your eyes on?” Hange perked up as she popped the last of her chips into her mouth.

They had a perfect view of the harbor, but Levi murmured, “We can’t discuss this here.” His eyes were not on the ships so much as the patrons eating and loud mouthing around them.

Mike was doing the same, and they both locked onto a man carrying himself differently than the rest, a man with a small girl sitting next to him while they ate from the same platter of steamed crabs. The girl had blatantly inherited the man’s hooked nose but someone else’s bright blond hair and blue eyes. She broke apart the crabs’ shells as easily with her bare hands as her father, who sat shirtless with not a tattoo in sight.

“Find out who he is,” Levi murmured.

Hange followed his line of sight for a glance before she wondered, “Why? He looks like a regular dockhand.”

“Exactly,” Levi muttered, his eyes now on the ships bobbing in the sunlight. “After everything we’ve seen, a man bringing a little girl to a place where sailors gather is either too stupid to mention, or is worth investigating. Not to mention a dockhand shouldn't ever have such perfect posture. How many of Erwin’s rebels have his level of confidence?”

Mike tipped his head to that. Levi was not about to think of all the girls he and his crew had rescued from dirty hands and the relentless sea, nor how this one’s blond hair reminded him of Armin, her hungry hands of Eren, and her similarly quiet demeanor of Mikasa. Perhaps the last leg of their journey should be scouting for recruits more than vessels…

“Are we going to be stalkers today?” Hange read his thoughts.

“They’re leaving,” Mike seconded as the father and daughter idled out of the tavern.

“Hange, do as you always do. I don’t care what ships you pick. Mike, keep tabs on them, but you’re too tall to follow closely.”

“I can be inconspicuous when it suits me,” he countered calmly, already standing and strolling outside.

“What are you going to do until sundown?” Hange asked while she adjusted her goggles upon standing.

“Keep my eyes open,” he replied, and ordered another ale. Turns out, it took less than an extra pint before his ears pricked at the conversation happening on the other edge of the bar.

“Yeah, got transferred a few weeks ago,” someone was saying. Levi glanced up long enough to observe oddly pale skin for a sailor and light hair closely cropped to his scalp. “No warnings, or anything like that. I captained the strongest beauty, too…nothing like you’d ever seen.”

“Stop bragging, Braun,” complained a much taller, lankier man next to him. Levi recognized the name, but he frowned since _man_ was a loose description for either of them. They looked hardly older than their teens despite the one being the tallest patron in the bar and the other could easily lift a crate full of melons without issue.

“Oh shut it, Bertolt. You’ve got that monstrosity to look after.”

“Don’t insult my lady love,” his tall companion scolded theatrically.

“Yeah, well your lady defies the laws of nature. How can a ship so bloody big float like that? It’s less than a battleship and more like a whale with sails.”

They had Levi’s full attention now…but he had yet to see anything resembling a _whale with sails_ in the harbor. Why would a captain stray so far from his ship?

“I’ll have you know, my whale can hold fifty canons and man a crew of three hundred.”

“ _Fifty?_ ” the stockier one gaped. “What the hell do you _do_ with fifty? And there’s no bleeding way three hundred men can work in harmony. They must be dangling all over the rigging.”

“I said it can be run with three hundred,” Bertolt corrected. “I get by with the standard hundred and fifty.”

Levi snorted softly over his ale, but it was enough to earn the youngsters’ attentions. “Something funny?” Captain Braun asked.

“Not particularly,” Levi answered quietly. “There’s nothing funny about being mutinied.”

The young men exchanged puzzled glances and Bertolt asked, “What do you mean mutinied? Our crews like us fine.”

Levi tipped his tankard back and slid it over to where the barkeep could easily reach it for washing. “You’re not manning a crew, so much as a miniature city. Unless you’re willing to cut your heart out for a hundred and fifty men who would rather be fucking in brothels than following orders, don’t expect them to do the same for you.”

From the blank looks in their eyes, he could tell neither of them had been given a lecture quite like this one. Levi sighed on his way out and briefly observed the clean, unmarked arms beneath their rolled up sleeves and how the only shadows under the fabric were from their shoulder blades. “I can’t help but question the integrity of His Majesty’s navy if he’s sending boys to get lynched by their own crew.”

He had taken three steps out of the pub before the pair of them caught up. “We’re not getting mutinied by our men!”

“Do you really think they would entrust two of their best ships to boys?” the other seconded.

A gentle smirk formed on Levi’s mouth, but it faded easily for when he turned to face them. “No, I don’t. I just think such talents could be put to better use than looking after boats in a harbor. When have either of you actually taken your crafts out to sea?”

He could tell he had caught them off guard by the look in their eyes and Bertolt’s response: “The king’s ordered my ship to remain in the capital for the time being; I came to see Reiner to the capital for his reassignment to an—”

Reiner elbowed his friend. Levi was almost induced to roll his eyes. How obvious could these two be? “Well if the king is upgrading his fleet and commanding them with young souls, then he must have a cocky plan up his golden sleeves.”

Then, the adolescent sheen in their eyes changed. Levi was shocked to find the familiar shadow of battle there, the grim presence of memories not easily forgotten. “The king’s a puppet,” Reiner murmured as if to not be overheard. “Everyone knows that.”

“Then why would you accept the orders of a puppet…unless you knew whose hand controlled it?” Levi queried, earning another glint from their eyes. He had suspected they were sharp if they captained prominent ships in the fleet, but now they were proving knowledgeable, albeit poor secret keepers.

He did not hear their response, though, since Mike appeared beside them. “Captain,” he greeted tersely, causing all pairs of eyes to crane up to him. Mike sniffed casually, giving the boys a once over.

If Mike was back this soon, he had information to give. Levi strolled past the Captains Reiner and Bertolt with the parting words, “Every man is king on his ship. I’ve never cared for others playing the part.”

Mike cast a glance over his shoulder as they walked along the quay. “It seems Nile is not the only fish out of water.”

“What?” Levi uttered.

“Those boys smell of the sea,” Mike reiterated, “same as the man and daughter…but different than you, or I, or Hange smell…”

“No one smells like Hange,” Levi quipped darkly.

Mike continued, “They could be different due to their time spent on land… It would not surprise me to learn a whole community of merpeople chose legs instead of fins once upon a time. If they know what they are, they are probably just avoiding the sides of the war…” His eyes narrowed, as if questioning this theory.

“But you think those two just realized they’d accidentally chosen a side?” Levi deduced.

“I think there is more to this war than we yet know,” Mike pondered aloud, “but we can’t be bothered with it now. One battle at a time.”

Levi liked the sound of that. He already had Eren, Mikasa, and Armin lingering in the back of his mind; he did not need more nuisances swimming around back there.

“Nevertheless, keep those you recognize as merpeople, or otherwise, in your memory. We might need to find them later.”

Mike inhaled sharply, giving Levi the impression he agreed. The two of them waited until nightfall when Hange rendezvoused with them in the alley beside the tavern. “All right,” she commenced, “I’ve got the two men o’ war, and that galley on my list.”

Levi frowned at the vessels in question. “Three? Just three?”

Hange gave him a look, “What? Did you expect me to sign off the two battleships, the barque, _and_ the brig?”

Levi’s stare was deadpan. Yes, yes he had.

Hange could not keep a straight face to save her life. She tossed head back and waved her list like a fan. “Fine, fine. I’m greedy and got you the whole lot. Those poor krakens have got themselves a haul tonight.”

“The four of them can handle the five,” Levi assured.

Hange’s mouth drooped as she looked over her list again. “But I’ve got seven—”

“I can count,” Levi sassed, “although I don’t see how you can with those shit-stained glasses. You and Mike will sail the sixth and I’ll man the seventh.”

Mike’s brows reached for his tawny hairline. “Alone?”

Hange’s eyes rolled. “He’s done it before…crawls around like a fucking spider in his web.”

“Can’t help it when my crew goes for a swim while the ship's being attacked,” Levi countered.

The woman’s shoulders hunched like hackles rising. “For the last time! We were in the water _helping you!_ ”

“A great deal of good that did,” he retorted. Hange was seconds away from slapping her captain around but Mike steered her toward the docks.

“We’ve got work to do,” he chided tersely. Levi was glad to see that in such a large harbor, only every other ship had guards aboard. Incapacitating them first allowed Mike, Hange, and Levi to go about their business separately. A quick summoning of gargantuan octopi got their ships out of the harbor all the sooner, and Levi swooped down over the deck of the man o’ war he was in charge of. Behind him he could see Mike and Hange moving about their deck, and the empty vessels sailed ahead.

The following morning, he had just settled on deck from the rigging when Hange climbed up the hull with a sack tied to her shoulder. “My boat has oranges and bananas. Thought you might like breakfast.”

He caught the sack and turned in time to avoid the water droplets shaken from her hair. Levi said her name as he peeled the fruit, gathering her attention while he gathered his own ruminations together. When she finished wagging like a dog and replaced her glasses over her face he said, “Where did you reassign Captain Braun specifically?”

“The armored ship’s captain?” she reiterated without needing to look over her paperwork. “I didn’t reassign him. I noticed how badly forged his birth certificate was and gave him an honorary discharge. While I admire his ambition and the illegal registration to the military, a sixteen or seventeen year old should be building his rum tolerance and flirting with people on beaches instead of trying to become a legend.”

The side of Levi’s mouth lifted in a smirk as he said, “But how does a seventeen year old manage to get promoted to captain so quickly? And to such a distinguished ship?”

Hange shrugged while spitting out orange seeds. “Maybe the ship is actually a failure. He wouldn’t be able to kill himself on a ship that never sails.”

“Sure,” Levi acquiesced, “except he and his friend, Captain Bertolt, were on their way to the capital. They said Captain Braun had been reassigned, and barely remembered to not let the details spill from their tongues.”

“Ooo hoo,” Hange wiggled with intrigue. “Naughty youngsters, eh? Shall we pay them a visit in the capital?”

Levi nodded curtly. “The Bertolt brat is supposedly in charge of an impressive vessel, and if nothing else, we can kidnap Braun to tell us how the hell the armored ship’s rigging works.”

Hange laughed and tossed her peels over the edge. “There’s something to look forward to, at least. Adieu.”

Levi watched her vault into the sea with surprising grace, and his eyes stayed on her until she was shaking her hair in Mike’s face on their own ship. He was able to breathe easy with the absence of pale ghosts skimming underneath the surface of the water, but his eyes scanned the horizon, nonetheless. It was far too empty; their plan had gone too well. There was still much to do and so much information they were yet ignorant of, but there had not been a squid in sight during their entire journey. Hange was currently caterwauling a sea shanty in the distance, and Mike had sneezed the last of the pepper from his nose two days ago. Levi was even able to eat food which was not caked in salt. Something had to go wrong.

But it didn’t. Four days of sailing passed, and after the fifth night, Levi could see the familiar ripples of land on the horizon that was his homeport. The sky was soon cast into shades of pink as the sun dragged itself upward to reveal his plethora of commandeered ships filling the harbor. There were so many that most of them had to be anchored around the beach behind the market.

Levi dived off the portside of his ship, satisfyingly plunging into his own translucent waters. He lazily stroked his arms over the water until his feet found the soft sand of the beach. He was not going to think about everything that could have gone wrong. He was not going to search for catastrophes which might have happened while he was away—Levi was set on finding a steamy bath, a similarly hot meal perhaps with Kenny and Mikasa and possibly the brat Eren—

Levi froze on the beach, his hand paused in his hair from raking it off his face when he spotted a crimson figure standing in the trees lining the sand. Even in the gloom of dawn, the red coat stood out amongst the green and tawny white landscape. He stood silently and unmoving, his hands in his pockets while he leaned against a palm tree. Levi had been so preoccupied with getting back without a mishap, he had completely forgotten the prime ordeal waiting for him: Erwin.

Sighing and pressing his lips together, Levi strode up the beach to get close enough for his voice to carry. “Yeah, we’re late,” he made by way of introduction.

“ _Late?_ ” Erwin purred. Levi’s lips twitched. Erwin was far too calm. “You’re over a month late, Levi. You’re five and a half weeks late. Was this always your plan or was it a spur of the moment decision?”

“Spur of the moment,” Levi countered, “but what are you complaining about? I’ve given you the damn fleet you needed. This should be enough to distract all the squid—”

“That isn’t the point, Levi!” Erwin growled. Levi suddenly took a step back on instinct, taking a battle ready stance. “You should have told me immediately of the changes. I should not have to hear it from Marie. Did you think receiving ship after ship with corpses to clean up were gifts well received? You’d have done better to just come back.”

“I did what I set out to do,” Levi shot back, “and I told you before that I’m a pirate. It’s not my fault you’re trying to see me as otherwise.”

Erwin took a step forward, his faded coat brushing his strong thighs. “I am well aware of what you are. What I cannot tolerate is your complete disregard for my trust or feelings. We agreed on one month. One month and a handful of ships. Not two and a whole armada without a word to me about it.”

“You could have come at any point or even sent someone to find out for yourself!” Levi pointed out. “And we had more things to do than gather the damn ships you need. There was paperwork to alter, collateral obstacles we had to maneuver, and we aren’t even finished. There’s a third party to all of this we have to deal with when we go to the capital next—”

Erwin interjected, “When did you last sleep?”

“What?” Levi blundered, caught off guard by the question. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because you look like hell,” Erwin declared bluntly, “as if you haven’t sleep the whole two months you were away. I know you said you can’t sleep well on land, Levi, but this is something else.”

His dark blue eyes glared. “It’s none of your fucking business when I sleep. Are you even listening to me? I’m doing all of this for your goddamn rebellion—I would never have a part in it if my family hadn’t been torn to pieces because of it. I have to go to the shitty capital, the rancid sewers of the country in order to deal with your old mate Nile and find the brats who—”

“Nile?” Erwin repeated darkly.

“Yes, Nile,” Levi growled, his patience officially gone. “The shit bag admiral in charge of the king’s navy. Does that _complicate_ things for you? Do you finally have some inkling of what we’ve been sorting through while we’ve been gone?”

Erwin’s eyes dropped to half-mast, the only sign of his annoyance. “You’re being like this because you are sleep deprived. I would have gone with you in the beginning, but I granted your wish to go with Mike and Hange instead.”

Levi grimaced as he repeated, “ _Granted,_ ” under his breath contemptuously. “How considerate of you.”

Erwin took another step forward, and Levi suddenly realized how close he was. Erwin was all wide shoulders and powerful stance looming over him as he uttered, “Yes, wonderfully considerate. I understand the trials you’ve undertaken, Levi, because I haven’t been swimming in circles while you were away. Do you know how many attacks have been made to this port daily while you were gone? I had to call in a valuable comrade to watch over the town in my stead—someone whose skills could be better put elsewhere, but I promised to keep this place safe for you. I have to keep morale up in the individuals waiting for this war to be over; I have to keep the few soldiers I have believing this is all going to be worth it in the end. This isn’t a waiting period for your father to make a move; I am constantly having to predict his actions and outmaneuver him. I have countless spies risking their lives to keep me informed of his actions and it’s like I have innumerable minds crafting and reshaping this entire grand scheme. The only fucking solace I have in this mortal game is _you._ ”

Levi reared back, physically jarred by Erwin’s confession. And he wasn’t finished.

“Hange is wonderfully brilliant. Mike is irreplaceable for the gifts he has, but no one is truly able to _keep up_ like you are. You arrived late to this mess and you’re already standing beside me, sorting things out and discovering new material to work with. Is it too much to ask for you to keep in proper contact with me? That you stop being a little shit and get over your feelings for me so we can finish this goddamn war?”

Levi sputtered, his head shaking to clear the debris in his mind and sort all this out. “Get over my…What the hell are you saying? You’re the one who was constantly grabbing me! You were the one who—whohmmph!”

Erwin’s hand reached out too quickly to see and cradled Levi’s nape like a vise to yank him forward, capturing his mouth in a firm, demanding kiss. It was hard enough for Levi to feel Erwin’s teeth through his lips as his fingers scrambled across the man’s white shirt. The pads of his fingers found his open collar and the blond dusting of hair on his sternum the same moment Erwin reared back enough to utter huskily, “Everything will go so much smoother if you just _say it,_ Levi. What are you afraid of?”

Levi’s exhale was shaky as it filled the heavy space between his and Erwin’s mouths. “Say what, bastard?”

Erwin chuckled, and the sound hit Levi’s chest like a javelin. In two months he’d forgotten the sideways smirk Erwin could wear. His lips opened instinctively when Erwin leaned forward, only to gasp as his nose was teased with Erwin’s nuzzling it, how his lips brushed over Levi’s without actually locking into a kiss. Those strong hands held Levi firmly in place, subjected to this gentle abuse.

“That you ache worse than you’ve ever felt right now. That your trousers are straining, reaching for what I can give you. That you might actually want something inconceivably _normal_ with me instead of all this fishy business. Say you missed me. Tell me what you want, Levi.”

His words dusted over Levi’s lips, his cheeks and eyelids as he gave attention to every part of his face except for the way Levi wanted.

“I don’t do relationships, Erwin,” he breathed, swallowing thickly. His eyes had closed, heavy with fatigue and the lust that was indeed to the point of pain inside him.

“You don’t need the plural,” the blonde stated casually. “You just need me.”

“You’re so fucking arrogant,” Levi accused, his eyes parting to blink up at him sleepily.

That smile returned. “I’m selfish. Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

Levi leaned into the kisses along his jaw and mandible. “I want a bath,” he answered without thinking.

Erwin’s lips only paused for his breathy chuckles. “And?”

He swallowed again. “Lobsters and butter and bread.”

“Mmmh,” Erwin hummed against his neck as his lips passed over his earlobe. Levi shuddered against the baritone. Christ, he’d forgotten how soft those lips were… “And?” Erwin prompted.

“I…I want…” Levi breathed raggedly, gathering the courage to say it. “I don’t know what I want, Erwin…but I want you to show it to me.”

With that, Erwin leaned forward, capturing Levi’s mouth again while his arm encompassed his lower back. The kiss was softer this time, wanton and claiming, but Levi was leaning back on his toes and entirely supported by Erwin. It took him several moments to realize he was being ushered toward the water.

“Not here!” he rushed between kisses. “I don’t want Hange or Mike to see—”

“I guarantee they’re well below with their own partners,” Erwin interrupted, gently pulling on Levi’s hair to raise his chin once more. “And even if they weren’t, it’s still too dark to see from the ships.”

He cut off any retorts by nibbling on Levi’s lips, sucking them between his kisses and teasing Levi’s tongue out to meet his. In a rush, Erwin tossed his long coat on the sand, causing Levi to clumsily, albeit conveniently, fall onto it without Erwin’s hands holding him up. He realized, then, how close they were to the water as the waves tickled his feet, but his gaze was quickly torn upward as Erwin shed his boots and breeches. Long, muscled legs pointed to the thick member ribbed with faint blue veins rising attentively. As he knelt over Levi, though, the waves blanketed his calves, the backs of his knees, and when the water receded opalescent blue and green scales remained. The wide plumage of his white fin curled out of the water as another wave splashed across his ass and thighs, causing the last of his scales to grow through his skin.

Levi had gotten caught staring at the transformation, bluntly watching until Erwin pushed him back with firm kisses on his neck while fingers worked his laces free. “Wait, am I…I’ve never been on this side of it before.”

“Did you like being on top?” Erwin wondered.

“I…I didn’t finish,” he admitted weakly. He was not interested in revisiting that failure of an evening.

“Then tell me how you feel every moment,” Erwin purred against his jaw. Levi’s head fell back when his cock was finally pulled free from his trousers. “Until you’re ready to try again.”

Levi’s shoulder hunched as Erwin nibbled the sensitive skin along his neck and shoulder. His hands dumbly grasped the loose shirt flowing around Erwin’s torso. “Take this off. I want this off,” he ordered huskily.

Erwin obliged by ducking his head and raising his arms for Levi to yank it off, and Levi’s own raiment soon followed. He was torn between hungrily admiring the sculpted form above him and feeling shy beneath the dusky blue eyes absorbing him just as ravenously. His worries were immediately sidetracked when a warm, slick substance glided between Erwin’s hand and his penis.

“Wha-What is that?” Levi exclaimed. His eyes startled open as he witnessed the large hand reach back for a scaly hip, Erwin swiping his own goo from his scales. “That can’t be sanitary,” he remarked, deadpan.

“It’s perfectly sanitary,” Erwin hushed with a mixture of mirth and impatience in his voice. “Would you rather we strolled into town for oil?”

Levi’s brow furrowed. “No,” he admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Erwin purred as he kissed Levi’s forehead. “It’s water resistant in case the waves come too close.”

“Good,” Levi tried his best to grumble against the blissful twist of Erwin’s hand around the head of his cock. He lifted his hips up for more. “I’ll never fuck you again if sand gets in my ass.”

Erwin’s laugh encouraged Levi to settle into his coat, letting the blonde stroke the pleasure out of him. The pinkie sliding into his ass was a bit of a shock, however.

“Oh!” he blurted, clamping around the knuckle.

“Relax,” Erwin coaxed. “We’ll never make it before high tide otherwise.”

“Maybe give me some warning first,” he scolded while trying to breathe through it.

The sensation of Erwin’s finger pumping in and out of him was foreign and not altogether unlikable, but he seemed to noticed Levi’s lackluster reaction and informed, “Here’s more.”

Erwin skipped right to his longest finger and took his time with working Levi open. The narrow hips trembled as he continued to pump Levi’s cock, earning delicious whines when he paused to lick precum off his fingers. “You’re doing well,” he assured. “How do you feel?”

“Annoyed,” Levi exhaled. “When does it get-t—haah! Um…”

Erwin had curled his finger and twisted, grinding directly into the wall of sensitivity so he unfailingly found the right spot to make Levi squirm. “Ow-hah…” he moaned. “What is that?”

“Does it hurt?” Erwin asked, concerned.

Levi grimaced but his brow furrowed with confusion. “No, I don’t think, but it…I don’t know how to describe it.”

Erwin tried a different tactic: slowly swirling the pad of his finger against the spot in varying degrees of delicacy and firmness. Somewhere in between, he had Levi’s knees falling open and his lips parted for deep, heavy breaths. The hand stroking Levi’s cock slowed, not wanting him to come too soon.

“You’re almost there,” he soothed as he inserted another finger. Levi grimaced again but the pitter-pat of the fingertips tickling inside quickly made him forget the painful stretch and his pelvis shuddered. Erwin removed his hand to slick it over his scales once more before he carefully fitted three fingers at Levi’s entrance. “Breathe,” he ordered, and pushed inside in time with Levi’s exhales.

His toes curled in the sand around Erwin’s hips. He groaned, “I want to cum…we should have planned this after a bath and sleep.”

Erwin planted a hand beside Levi’s shoulder to lean forward for a long kiss. “You’ll sleep well after this. Are you ready?”

“Do it,” he declared curtly.

Erwin’s eyes flicked up. “I need the truth, Levi. This could go horribly wrong if you’re not ready.”

“Don’t get me this far only to stop!” he barked raggedly. “Goddamn it, Erwin. I’m fit to—ahh!”

Erwin’s patience snapped and he fit the head of his swollen head inside Levi’s entrance. The stretch was tight, but the slow push within had Levi’s hips rocking off the coat and his jaw dropping. Erwin’s hands greedily found the curves of his waist and cradled him there, lifting him higher with his knees draped over Erwin’s biceps until his hips touched Levi’s ass cheeks. Erwin breathed for what little patience remained while sweat speckled his brow. His eyes opened to take in Levi beneath him, his head slightly fallen to the side and the blush spread across his cheeks to his chest. He looked beautiful in the morning light.

“Does it hurt?”

Levi’s lashes batted and he managed to sass, “It will if you don’t do something in there.”

The head of his cock bobbed ever so gently against his abdomen when a flirtatious smile graced Erwin’s lips again, but all of Levi’s focus went to the discrete roll of Erwin’s hips against him. It was not what he had expected, but another grinding of Erwin’s pelvis dragged his cock against all the right places. His prostate welcomed the massage as Erwin rocked searing, gooey waves of pleasure through his core instead of beating his virgin ass with thrusts.

Levi’s hands found Erwin’s on his body and he held on to whatever parts of Erwin he could reach. “Oh fuck…I think…” he exhaled. “I think I’m cuming.”

“Then cum,” Erwin said, his hand finding Levi’s cock--which Erwin would readily describe as beautiful as the person it was attached to if he was not sure Levi would give him a black eye for it--as his lips kissed a knee. “Let me see you.”

Levi was too close to feel embarrassed. His eyes widened a second before they closed and he rocked forcefully against Erwin’s rhythm. He exclaimed wordlessly to the sky as rivulets spurted across his stomach. Erwin nearly dropped his hips when Levi squeezed him inside, but he held on and risked bruising the smooth, pale skin in order to pump his own orgasm out of him. Levi watched, transfixed, as Erwin’s expression went from labored to utterly peaceful in his pleasure, the muscles in his powerful torso clenching ruggedly as he thrust the last tingles of his climax through before slipping out to lay his cheek on Levi’s chest. He felt raw and open between his legs, messy as slick and cum leaked out of his hole, yet utterly satisfied.

A kiss on his collarbone was followed by a casual lick of Erwin’s tongue. “You taste like the sea.”

Levi’s eyes rolled lethargically when he blinked. _No shit,_ he would have said, but he let Erwin’s lack of brain matter after an orgasm slide.

“What else did you want?” Erwin asked.

“Lobsters. Bath,” Levi reminded mutely.

Erwin could hear Levi’s heart gradually slowing from their exertions along with the uproarious growling of his stomach. He calculated that he had less than twenty minutes to feed Levi before the afterglow of their lovemaking vanished to reveal the more unfriendly pirate inside of him.

“With a quickness,” Erwin assured as the rising sun made the froth on his scales sparkle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the wait, everyone, but I hope this made up for it! No guarantees on when the next update will be but I'm looking forward to it as much as you are haha


	9. Selfish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I used to give you updates ALL THE TIME? HAHAHAHAHA...HA HA...ha. *cries in the corner*
> 
> Enjoy!

_Cruunnch._

Levi’s dark eyes flicked to the other side of the bath. Erwin expertly pulled open the segments of the crab’s leg…after biting them instead of using the prongs which could crack through nuts and shells alike. Levi could not say he was surprised but seeing those curiously sharp canines, that had so intently nibbled on his lips—

_Cruunnch._

Levi lifted an eyebrow while the corner of his mouth twitched. Despite everything, Kenny had instilled him with a certain level of etiquette. Erwin’s gaze locked with his. He had the grace to swallow before he asked, “What is it?”

But Levi only looked away. Kenny, being the greedy and successful entrepreneur that he was, had spent the majority of a ten years’ income on his bath alone. Unlike the modest, mobile tub they used at the Inn, this was a tiled basin deep enough to fit three people snuggly…or one Erwin with a Levi. It was built to survive the occasional floods brought by the seasonal tides or the recent invasion of autocratic merpeople.

Levi had slipped underneath the water and stretched out his legs, claiming his territory of the bath while unashamedly watching Erwin undress. Perhaps he had expected some of the scales to remain, because he was surprised to find long expanses of thigh and calf, smooth and sculpted with the slightest sheen of tawny hair. Levi tore his gaze away when he realized he was staring at the man’s ankles. Ankles. The minutest part of him was just as well carved as the rest of him, and Levi growled at himself for fixating on them. Of course the man’s ass was nice too—

Levi realized he had been staring again when Erwin smiled at him, approaching the bath. Food had already been gathered on a tray beside the bath when he had slipped under the water. Kenny had given Levi permission toward a bowl of fruit before he left with Mikasa to meet Eren for a play date. Levi had then taken liberty of the man’s pantries with no intention of restocking them.

Erwin’s leg glided alongside his under the water. Levi sent him a glare while the rim of his teacup pressed against his bottom lip. “You need to eat too,” the blonde advised. “You made such a request for lobster before.”

Levi looked to the scarlet crustaceans as if they had given away his secrets. “Priorities change.”

He shifted his weight and blinked, hard. Erwin noticed and leaned forward before Levi’s heel made contact with his stomach…which made him outright flinch.

“You’re hurting,” Erwin said. His hand was gentle around Levi’s ankle even while his fingers found the tense muscles firming Levi’s calf. A simple, tight squeeze in the right place made Levi’s leg unclench against him. Numbing tingles shot up Levi’s calf, slithered past his knee and joined the ones in his thigh when Erwin’s thumb dug into the meat of his quadriceps, rendering his strength moot. Levi’s breathing was strained, his body reflecting the clash of thoughts and priorities in his mind.

“I shouldn’t have taken you so far for your first time,” Erwin said under his breath as he massaged Levi’s leg properly. However he started up close, gripping the meat of his tender cheek, making Levi’s body go slack and his head turn away from him. His sore entrance quivered with both memory and pain, but Levi forced the tremors to remain where they were instead of travel to where Erwin could feel them.

“No shit,” he growled, currently angry to have the man so close and even supporting his weight in the water. Erwin’s bright eyes flicked up at him while his adept fingers worked across his hip, opening the joint and relaxing the strong cords of his thighs.

“We agree but with different reasons,” he replied, returning his gaze to the swirling thumbs around Levi’s knee. Levi peeked at him and locked onto the matching pearl in his ear. He had not really noticed it until now, perhaps because Erwin wore his in the thin flesh between his lobe and cartilage, but those blue eyes found his, cutting off his thoughts. “I don’t know what to do to help you trust me.”

Levi’s lips twitched, wanting to curl in a grimace but the back of his throat hurt. He did not know, either. One side of his mind knew Erwin had loaned him Marie and all of the krakens for aid, had personally saved him more than once, cleaned up numerous corpses on his behalf…but the other half stubbornly wanted nothing to do with this war, was still mourning Isabel and Farlan, and quite simply thought he had progressed things with Erwin too soon. With more sleep in his system, Levi might have laughed at how mundane the concern was.

Those hands had already kneaded the stiffness out of his shins and his fingertips raked between the metatarsals of his feet, causing Levi to startle and restlessly squirm. “You can start by not—” he huffed a ragged breath, “—not doing that!”

Erwin had peeked up at him for his reaction but only shook his head now. “Someone must take care of you. I’m surprised these muscles are sore, with how often you swim. It must be the boots. I never cared for human footwear. They cause these muscles to atrophy and render them nearly obsolete. Then again, I wouldn’t want anyone less stubborn for my captain.”

He raked those fingers across his foot again, pressing his fingertips deep enough to scrape over the bones of his ankle and then the muscles along the top of his foot. It became such a mixture of pain and relief that Levi could not retain his tremors anymore. “Breathe,” Erwin instructed. “The water’s heat will soothe your aches once I unlock them.”

“Heh,” Levi laughed raggedly as Erwin’s hands suddenly ran up his inner thigh and back down to the tip of his toe, as if he was trying to wring out his leg. The backs of his fingers brushed Levi’s tender groin, but Erwin gave no indication of lust or lascivious intent. On his way back down Levi’s leg, he managed twist in such a way that Levi’s hip, knee, ankle, and other indiscernible things popped. By the time he was on Levi’s other side the captain was half a pile of goo, who clenched all over again at the attention on his ass.

“Is this your way of pampering your husband?” he growled. Erwin froze, bright eyes wide on him. Levi elaborated with a hard pinch on the man’s ear. “This means you’re mine, doesn’t it? Don’t be an arrogant shit.”

Long tawny lashes blinked, and a wicked grin slowly formed on Erwin’s face. “I’ll do what I like as long as it keeps you safe.”

“Gack!” Levi squawked when he squeezed the tight hamstring. Levi’s nails bit into Erwin’s shoulders and throat, but he seemed hardly bothered.

“Your highness,” he purred.

 _“Fuck you.”_ he managed to spit the words out before Erwin pivoted his knee, incurring a loud pop from Levi’s hip.

“You will, later,” Erwin said almost sweetly.

“What is that shitty smile for? Ahh!” he cried as Erwin rotated his lower leg, creating more pops from Levi’s knee and ankle.

“Your lack of complaints toward being my husband,” he replied, running his thumb up the arch of his foot and pressing hard into the pads of his toes.

Levi’s breath was strained as he uttered, “What? All I’m doing is—ah!—complaining! You never even asked, you piece of—”

His words were clipped short when his eyes locked on Erwin opening his mouth, the teeth chomping down along the arch of his foot. Even though he broke the skin, Levi was silent, puzzled and shocked. It did not hurt more than stepping on a shell or into an angry crab’s claw, but those topaz eyes flicked up at him, smug and teasing. To which Levi bluntly said, “I don’t understand this. Is this some merperson foreplay?”

Erwin chuckled. “For some. But no, it’s a distraction.”

“From…?”

No sooner had the word left his mouth and Levi’s entire body arched toward the ceiling, his mouth gaping from the excruciating pain in his foot. Just as quickly as it had come, it began ebbing away, but a burst of pain came with each pulse of his heart.

“A dislocated toe,” Erwin informed. “How did you do that without noticing it?”

“Don’t ask me,” he snapped. “It might have happened while we were fucking.”

Erwin frowned in declination. “I’m not so careless, but thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me it felt good enough to ignore a dislocated joint. I was afraid you were regretting it.”

Levi’s silence was loud. Erwin watched him as he finished his work and then settled next to him. Breaking open a lobster tail, he took a bite and dipped it in lemon juice and butter before handing it to Levi. Those dark silver eyes glowered, keen to his tricks, but he accepted it nonetheless. His stomach was grateful. Erwin continued to hand him bites of food, initially taking a bite on the pretense of sharing even though they were hardly more than nibbles. “You are regretting it.”

The muscles in Levi’s jaw ticked. “I don’t know what I’m doing…with anything. Part of me doesn’t feel like this is my war. I just…haven’t had time.”

“I understand.” Erwin handed him a glass of water. “You’ve spent your life avoiding national skirmishes. The gravity of something this large is difficult to swallow.”

“You’re not helping,” Levi said, but not unkindly. “The reminder of two civilizations depending on me is too much.”

“I understand,” he repeated, “but I cannot apologize, and I won’t, because it is the truth. All I can do is reassure you that they do not rest on your shoulders alone. I have never once given my people the impression that you are their salvation. No one expects you to take his place as king.”

Levi sighed, letting his face fall into his hand. He felt defeated yet they had barely begun. “Who, then? Do your kind not care about bloodlines? Or are you comfortable being a usurper?”

Erwin chuckled, the water rustling around him as he drank from his own glass. “No, I certainly don’t want the position, and there is someone the merpeople are awaiting. Well…if she is not dead.”

Levi lifted a questioning eyebrow, to which he answered, “She has been in hiding on land, like many others as you have witnessed, but she comes from a family line with just as much of a claim to the throne as you do. Hers and your family have been both enemies and allies since the beginning.”

“How does that work?” Levi wondered. “You’re only friends until you’re at each other’s throats.”

Erwin tipped his head to this but he added, “I have it under good authority from someone who knows better than I that she is alive and well.”

“What authority?”

“Me,” answered Kenny, who stood in the doorway.

Levi’s gaze settled in its customary glare. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a play date, old man?”

“I had a feeling you would be eating my pantries empty, and it’s raining. The runts are upstairs pretending to gamble over sweets. Get out of there and we’ll talk.”

Erwin handed him a towel and they quickly dressed in breeches and loose shirts to finish eating at Kenny’s table. The French doors to the patio were open so rain splattered inside, but the smell of the open sky was welcome.

“Tell your stories,” Levi prompted over the cup of tea Kenny poured.

“Be patient, brat,” he shot back. When he had finished pouring Erwin’s and his own, he made himself comfortable and commenced, “Rod Reiss was a customer of your mother’s.”

The corner of Levi’s jaw curled. “Not one of the ones I killed,” he guessed.

“No, because he never slept with her. He’s part of the reason you’re still alive. He paid but they never fucked. They were friends, her only one, to be frank. He was also dead before your dumb ass went berserk on that beach. The king with fins made a point of killing him after making sure the babe in your mother’s belly was his own. Once he learned a Reiss and Ackerman were allies, that could not be ignored. If they did fuck, their kid could walk in and one word would get him thrown off the throne. Physically, Reiss was hardly a threat so he died easy when the king finally got around to it, but his payments left a cushion for you and your mother to survive on.”

“And an inheritance for you to steal,” Levi accused, but his tone was indifferent. He had already earned or stolen his own fortune twenty times over.

“There wasn’t much left to brag about,” Kenny waved aside. “The fool could have died without causing a mess, but no. He had to actually fuck someone in his lifetime, and what do you know…he made an heir. An illegitimate one, but it’s enough.”

“Then why is my father playing favorites?”

“Because he only knows about you. He doesn’t know Reiss’s daughter exists, because I killed her mother. Someone else found a dead pregnant woman and passed that off as the body, but the girl was very much alive and old enough to know what she had seen. She may have been none too pleased with me but she did not complain about renouncing everything she came from.”

“How old?”

A match scratched across the table for Kenny to light a thin cigar. He waved it out as he said, “The mother was barely pregnant when he died, so the girl is not much younger than you, but by some miracle of genes, you both look prepubescent.”

Levi’s expression was deadpan. “Where will we find her?”

“Within,” he responded, inhaling smoke.

“How far in?” Levi growled.

“The capital is a good place to loose somebody,” Kenny said, knowing the effect it would have on him. _Inland._ Just because their next stop was there did not mean he wanted to spend any more time away from the sea than he had to. Smoke spewed as Kenny laughed, “Not to worry. A massive river flows through the capital to the sea. Easy in, easy out.”

“Like my bowels,” he scoffed, finishing his tea.

“Not so easy,” Erwin intercepted. “We will need to play the part of harmless traders in order to get through inspection.”

Levi shrugged. This would not be the first time he had played such a scheme. “So we’re supposed to go into a metropolis and find some kid with nothing more to go on?”

Kenny huffed another laugh. “Good luck.”

“There isn’t a rush,” Erwin answered. “Our tasks are to contact Nile and to get Hange safely inside the records’ offices to alter the necessary documents.”

“If we had a scarf or something Mike could sniff her out,” Levi sassed.

A smile flashed as he said, “Perhaps, but there is no point in drawing attention to her at this stage. My squads don’t need the morale boost quite yet, and it would be preferable to entice her with a more stable kingdom in the off chance she still does not want to succeed her father. When we need her, we’ll find her.”

“Off chance,” Levi huffed. “So the plan is still to find your Commander Dok and figure out whatever the fuck he’s been doing in the capital.” 

And so Levi found himself aboard a ship again. Of course, it was his preferred place to be, especially with his familiar crew alongside him, but the addition of Erwin made things…different. From where Levi hung in the rigging, Hange’s cackling reached him annoyingly easily. He had handed off the wheel to another with the strict instruction to lack haste—he would breathe the fresh salt in the air as long as he could before the stench of the city spoiled his lungs. Every so often, Mike’s head emerged above the surface of the waves, relaying a report to Erwin. Sooner or later he would have to stay behind to maintain everything below, but until then his visits brought more laughter from Hange and a repetitive headache for Levi. He was three-quarters of the way to missing that brat Eren—

“Here, this will help.”

Levi arched a sharp brow at Erwin settling on the web of rope beside him, otherwise known as the shroud. He was holding something out to him. “Levi, I could calculate your blood pressure through that vein in your forehead. Here.”

Levi glared sharply at the small bundle of leaves in his hand. Taking them, he pushed two into his mouth and gnawed on the thick fibers. They tasted of mud and mint in the bitterest of ways, but the drawling _boom boom boom_ in his head began to ebb.

“How did you know?”

“Well you’re my husband. It is my job to know when you are cross.”

Of all the things to say, Levi had not been expecting that. “You’re nearly as annoying as she is.”

Erwin laughed. “Only because you don’t know when I will be serious or charming.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“I didn’t just fall into this responsibility, you know,” Erwin said. “I wanted it, so I earned it. That takes a substantially larger amount of sternness and a ruthless nature.”

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?” Levi rebuked. “Sorry for your lost innocence?”

“Naivety lacks intrigue,” Erwin countered. “I like puzzles…such as you. Forgive me if you bring out my charms when I am enjoying myself. I promise to forego civility in the future.”

“Civility?” Levi nearly spat. “Since when have you ever played toward any sort of etiquette? You’ve been a selfish, needy fish since I first met you.”

Erwin’s deep chuckle was suddenly right in his ear, causing Levi to jerk away in order to have room to turn his head. “And only you know it, love.”

He pecked a kiss on Levi’s lips before he could speak, retreat, or act otherwise. Levi bit harder into the leaves as he watched Erwin descend the rigging as if he had worked on a ship his entire life. Levi remained there, taking the first shift in the crow’s nest, but afterward he should not have been shocked to find Erwin sharing his Captain’s cabin. Levi stripped down to his undergarments and shoved the giant aside to make room in the now cramped bed. Erwin seemed to hardly rouse at the movement, but once Levi was settled and curled tighter and tighter into himself under the covers, Erwin rolled back over and spooned around him. The arrangement may have been initially unwelcome, but the added warmth was...even if Erwin's nose tickled against the crook of his neck.

However they needed to turn inland at some point, and the day arrived. The land split apart like the roots of a tree, but on either side of the tributary were harbors for ships to restock provisions, and a bustling town for trade and rest. The capital had ignored and neglected this place despite it being the mouth through which the city fed; only pirates kept the damn place alive and Levi was the one who made it the safe, thriving hub it was now.

“Will they recognize you here?” Erwin inquired that morning. Levi was shoveling in scrambled eggs from his pewter plate as they watched Petra speak with one of the harbormasters about restocking their water supply.

Since his mouth was full, Levi shook his head until he could speak. “We don’t come here often enough to be remembered, the ungrateful shits. We gave them barley and they charged nearly as much as a ship for the ale they made with it.”

It was all Erwin needed to hear, and sure enough, they replenished and carried on. Levi could not deny that there was some allure in sailing on a river. He had not done it often, only out of curiosity and had quickly lost interest, but there was a silence here which could be considered tranquil. He preferred the noise of the sea.

It was during the hour of dawn that a knock on the Captain’s cabin woke him. Levi became aware of Erwin’s breath behind his ear and eventually extracted himself to hear Eld’s announcement: they had arrived.

As if he needed the announcement. Shrugging into his jacket as he exited the cabin, Levi grimaced at the smell of fish even this early in the harbor. Fish should smell of the sea. If they didn’t, they had been too long out of it. The ports along the coast knew that but this inland place reeked of decay and foreign chemicals.

A shrill inhale of air reached him as Hange joined him by the portside rail. She inhaled again. “Ah! Smell that?”

“I wish I didn’t.” Fortunately it was so early all he got was a ragged sigh instead of a tedious speech from her. “What are we to do now?”

“Well,” she said, rolling her sleeves up. “Since Dok is the commander of this king’s fleet, he should be right _there_ as we speak.”

She pointed to a building not far from the docks but distinctly visible as a large, posh, and governmental building. Hange continued, “Which, conveniently, is exactly where I need to go. We can stroll right in.”

“Indeed,” came Erwin behind them.

Levi sneered at the cloth suddenly closing around his neck. “What the bloody fuck—”

“It’s just a cravat, you over sensitive cat,” Hange scolded. “You need to look the part of Captain today and less like a mangy pirate.”

“Who are you calling ‘mangy’?” he shot back, but Erwin bodily rotated him so he could tie the knot at the base of Levi’s throat. He saw that Erwin was already dressed in his oxblood coat and somehow it seemed his breeches and shirt hand been ironed. His buttons and boots gleamed with polish. Levi had known he was out of place, but suddenly he knew he was too far from his element.

“I needn’t go.”

Erwin’s bright eyes flicked up, locking onto him and causing Levi’s stomach to ache. Those eyes looked like the sky’s reflection on the surface of the ocean, and Levi felt sick to have decaying fish around him instead of fresh air and salt. It was some sick irony that the one time he felt seasick was inland.

Erwin’s hand was cool and dry as it slid under the cravat, ruining the work of the knot but cooling Levi’s temperature. “What do you mean?”

He pushed Erwin’s arm away. They were on deck and too visible. “Dok knows you. I have nothing to do with it. You can work on him well enough without me.”

Erwin’s brows reached for his hairline. “Well, I was hoping to instill the fear of death in him through you, but I don’t see why you must attend the first meeting. But I do need you to find the pair of captains you met earlier on. Reiner and Bertolt.”

 _First meeting,_ Levi’s blanched features threatened to tinge green. _How long are we going to fucking be here?_

“I’ll make this as brief as I can,” Erwin said as if hearing his thoughts. “When Hange works on the documents, she can easily find where those two are stationed and send you there.” He quickly finished knotting the cravat and ended, “Until then, let’s get these off. We’re still benevolent traders, after all.”

Erwin and Hange went to help the others unload cargo while Levi played his part with signing worthless signatures on the harbormaster’s stationery. They were finished by mid-morning; Hange and Erwin left to do their business while Levi went to try and get some brunch into his stomach in a remotely odorless place. It was remarkable how deceptively clean the city looked while managing such strange smells. One street wafted of tar and burnt wood, another of caramel and piss. Levi would have spent the small fortune on an almond croissant if it were not for the conflicting aromas, but he eventually settled on the tavern at the end of the harbor. The land and water were situated so a breeze traveled here, making the fish vendors’ presence less apparent and the smells of bubbling stew and ale strong.

Levi did not care to know how Hange found him so easily, but he did inquire as to why she was finished so soon. She merely blew a raspberry and waved her hand. “Everything is organized the same and easy to find. Those two captains should be getting off for lunch right about now. Shall we go snoop?”

Hange took it upon herself to finish Levi’s beverage and was bitterly disappointed to find it was tea instead of beer. “Who puts tea in a stein?” she wailed on their way over the cobbled streets. Levi’s ears were muted to her complaints as he gazed up at the extravagancy of the district they were entering. They certainly wanted to uphold an image. He found in his cache of dark humor the irony of how this royalty treated its military: either as scrap or luxury goods. Here there were people to impress, but out on the seas, criminals were given the option of being useful before a hurricane wiped them from the ledger. Levi supposed it was a kind thing, being given another chance, except when the choice was either to die in a cell or for another tyrant’s war.

Between the harbor and the palace—or rather, the extensive _gates_ of the palace—the city went through a transformation. The harbor was maintained with military strictness, but here the art of architecture ruled. The palace walls and turrets were tall enough to gleam with the sun’s rays but far within the forbidding walls. “Someone doesn’t like guests,” Levi observed.

Hange’s laugh was quiet this time as her eyes followed his. “For good reason. Everyone in there does not have the right to be there. I’m sure this city is a gilded façade for sewers full of blood and rats. Thankfully we needn’t penetrate the palace, though. We’re here.”

As if the walls surrounding the palace were not enough, the barracks and military facilities were the king’s neighbors. From one of them, a flood of personnel was leaving for lunch, and two of them stood out. Bertolt stood two heads higher than the rest, and Reiner looked like a building could fall on him and he would hardly notice. While the others traversed the main street, the pair of them walked alone.

“Oooo, antisocial, are we?” Hange sang. Levi followed quietly beside her as they tracked the pair to a much more subdued restaurant set on the corner of an alleyway and the main road. They did not enter, though. A man and a young girl with bright blond hair came out to meet them. Hange squinted through her glasses. “Are they familiar?”

“They’re merpeople,” Levi recalled. “Mike smelled them in the same pub in which we first met the captains.”

They were too far away to hear more than pieces of the conversation. Nothing more than, “Good morning, Mr. Leonhart…duty…gates…bread…” could be heard. The conversation could just as easily been about work complaints or a scheme.

“That little girl is eerie,” Hange said after a time, and Levi was inclined to agree. Mikasa was incredibly composed for a child, but this girl was something else. She silently held her father’s hand as if it was a formality, but otherwise never moved. At some point Levi picked up that her name was Annie, but only because her father mentioned her name in passing. Levi watched their lips more closely, pulling the sounds of their voices out of the noise around them, and with unwanted clarity, he realized there was no point in eavesdropping.

“They’re speaking in code.”

“Heh?” Hange barked, scratching inside her ear. “Why do you think?”

“Because they’re saying nonsense, and why would they discuss secret things on a street corner. They’re hiding in plain sight.”

“Oooo,” Hange cooed again. “How shall we decipher these secret squirrels, then?”

“I don’t care to have secrets among the ranks,” Levi countered.

“Better to have secret keepers close, though,” she warned.

“That’s why you will relocate them to the coast,” Levi ordered. “If those Leonharts follow, fine, but you will work on bringing those two over to our side. Make the documents look as if a military base has been set up in our port, if you have to. I doubt it will be difficult. If they have been given tasks regarding us they will come right over, if they do not, then that will give us information in itself.”

“See you soon,” she sang under her breath, even though the two youths did not hear it. On their way back to Commander Dok’s building she voiced, “So what position shall I impart to them?”

“Reinstate them to their ships,” Levi answered. “That will make sailing them easier.”

“And less easy to control,” she reminded. “That’s like giving a wild dog back to its owner.”

He did not doubt her words but he was thinking ahead, far ahead. Perhaps Erwin would know more about the Leonharts but either way the father was involved with the captains, and that girl…Annie…seemed to behave far beyond her years. “I have a feeling we will soon be dealing with three minds. That old man is training the brat for something.”

Hange waved the matter aside. “We’ll deal with them when they show up to the parade. Two blokes at a time.”

But Levi was tired of managing things as they came. This was why they were losing—they had been playing catch up until now; it was time to lead the game. “I want members you trust amongst their crew,” he ordered. Annie Leonhart was a decade younger, though. Luck forbid this to go on for another decade until she grew up, but if and when she did… Levi humored the notion of recruiting youngsters like Eren, Mikasa, and Armin to be the crew he trusted around Annie Leonhart. But this only steeled his resolve to get ahead now more than ever; far enough so the hope of winning could become visible.

That evening, Erwin and Levi were up until the candle burnt itself out. Apparently the meeting with Nile had gone quite well, nothing more than a reunion between friends. “He is lying to me,” Erwin voiced, but not spitefully. “And he knows I am lying to him. I am sure tomorrow’s encounter will not be as pleasant as today’s.”

His foot unconsciously slid along Levi’s under the covers. “What was the point of it today, then?”

“Diplomacy, etiquette, politeness,” Erwin listed. “Tempering the waters before shoving him into them.”

“Better to do it all at once and be done with it,” Levi argued. He had grown used to Erwin’s arm being over his waist while they were in bed, and did not complain about it now. There was something…genuinely calming about it, the small touches during long talks. They made the talking easier and vice versa.

“Hmm,” Erwin hummed. The sound was deep and harmonious, causing Levi to wonder once again if Erwin had ever sung for death before. “Waters lose their temperature overnight. I may have to do just that come morning.”

Their words drifted and dwindled, until Levi roused to the movement of Erwin climbing out of bed. Apparently Nile Dok had retained the nature of fishes being active at dawn, and Erwin intended to meet it. He pulled Levi into a shirt and jacket so they could share a coffee before Erwin left to possibly end a lifelong friendship.

Levi did not care for coffee. Erwin drank his black and blatantly enjoyed it, but Levi preferred the herbal bitterness of tea as opposed to coffee and only stopped adding cream and sugar when Erwin chuckled. “Please continue,” he beckoned. “I hadn’t any idea you had a sweet tooth.”

Levi gulped it down and gladly left the harbor’s small café which was growing chaotic with the rush of dockworkers needing caffeine. Nile Dok’s workplace was on an intersection of streets, which allowed for a square of sorts to be a meeting place which was shaded by young trees and furnished with iron benches.

“You won’t let me kiss you here, will you?” Erwin teased.

“You’re fucking right,” Levi snapped.

Erwin laughed but it was tenser than his usual mirth. “Which is why I won’t ask. You will be happy to know that today is your last day here. I have already spoken with your crew and Mike is expecting you to be prompt.”

Levi blinked, and felt his features pinch in a frown. There was something impersonal about his words that set Levi on edge, but before he could say anything, before Erwin turned to walk into Nile Dok’s workplace, the man himself appeared.

“Erwin? You’re early, but why am I not surprised?”

The man seemed to have been in the process of entering the building, but now descended the steps and approached the encircling trees. Upon meeting Levi’s gaze, however, he stopped. “Who is this?”

“Nile, this is Captain Levi Ackerman, my equal in command,” Erwin introduced, but when he turned back around from gesturing to Levi, Nile had a pistol in hand.

“You mean the bastard prince who is the excuse for all this mess. Is this what you wanted to haggle with me about? Your deluded fantasies?”

Levi had stared into the eye of a gun before and he did not flinch from Nile’s. He did react, though, when Erwin stepped between him and Nile’s line of fire. “Nile,” he warned, as if this was an argument they had left open long ago.

“Don’t you dare, Erwin,” Dok curtailed. “You asked me years ago to be a part of your idiotic ideals, and now you intend to ask me something else for which I could lose my life! I have children, Erwin. Gifts you denied yourself but I won’t let you corrupt my life again.”

“You judge me unfairly,” Erwin declared calmly. “Do you remember what you said to me before we parted long ago?”

A nostalgic grimace played at the corner of Nile’s mouth. “That you were a moron without a heart. Cold like your scales.”

“I was young and stupid,” Erwin granted, “but so were you.”

“Now you’re old and stupid,” Nile countered. “Only this time you have the audacity to _bring him here!_ ”

“He has saved more people than you and I combined.”

“He _looks_ like him!” Nile spat. “People used to think you were the line between madness and brilliance but now clearly you are so far from the latter that you’ve made me do this!”

“He looks like his mother,” Erwin uttered, calm as ever. “I would thank you to look at his ear as well as my own before you think of me without morals or warmth.”

The sneer on Nile’s face faltered, and Levi saw those eyes dart between him and Erwin. A choked sound, which might have been his attempt at laughter, was heard. “You’re something else. My wife accuses me of being married to my work but you really are something else.”

“This doesn’t have to involve you more than necessary, Nile,” Erwin assured. “We need but one favor from you.”

“And what the hell is that?” Nile growled. He seemed just as comfortable holding his pistol aloft in Erwin’s face as he had in Levi’s.

“The assets your king is sending to a naval party,” Erwin began. “I want the criminals to remain in your custody and the money to be sent to us instead.”

The pistol’s lever cocked back. “That’s two favors which involve the king’s seal. How the hell would you expect me to accomplish such a thing?”

“The king pours the wax but _you_ carry out the order.”

“It would be easier to shoot you,” Nile warned. “No one would question the murder of a person dangerous to the crown—”

He startled slightly at the sound of Levi’s laughter. Erwin, too, peeked behind him, so foreign was anything other than gravity from Levi. “I’ve killed men with more courage than you and more children. You’re like everyone else here, hiding behind your walls, your marble and gold. Your firearm is lovely. The gold filigree must have cost someone a fortune. What bribes do we have to give you to point it in another direction?”

“This was a gift from my wife!” Nile thundered, but Erwin raised a hand to silence him. The man looked more ready to hurl the object at Levi than fire it, which Erwin supposed might have been an improvement.

“I can say with certainty that Nile has never been the sort to accept bribes,” Erwin admitted. “This is also what makes him difficult. He behaves based on his own morals, and those are far more difficult to sway than actions bought with gold.” He turned fully to Nile and continued, “This is what I have always admired and disliked in you. It is how we are similar and how we are different. I lead by my morals while you follow, and it has always been my regret that I could not persuade you to follow me.”

“Because my orders maintain safety while yours avoid it completely,” Nile defended.

“That is a lie, and we both know it,” Erwin declared. “I have only ever wanted the safety of our people—do not forget that they are yours as well as mine. The difference between us is that you ran while I stayed, and it was a happy accident you fell in love with someone here.”

“That is not something for me to think about,” Nile snapped. “I just do the work given to me. The work that gets criminals out of my city and helps people sleep well at night.”

“Then give them work, by all means,” Erwin insisted. “Teach them to plant gardens and scrape barnacles from ships. Give them tasks to keep your beloved city pretty, and have them clean your king’s canon. But do not send them out to kill us.”

Levi’s eyes flicked up to a curtain being drawn on a window. Nile had been holding the pistol long enough fro someone in the building to notice. Levi glanced around them; the trees had shaded them and it was the time in the morning where the early risers were already at work and the later risers had yet to travel. It was a wonder this conversation had gone on for so long.

“You can’t have missed news of what’s been happening along the coast,” Levi cut in. “Do you really think he will be satisfied with only the oceans? Do you think he attacks port cities without intention of traveling toward you?”

“Our money is the guarantee that no such a thing will happen,” Nile said. “I cannot send it to you without endangering all of our lives.”

“You’re operating as if the man has the same morals as you,” Levi intercepted. “You’re wrong.”

“Don’t send it all to us,” Erwin improvised. “Send us two-thirds and the rest to him. How often do you correspond?”

The tension began to diffuse in Nile’s eyes. His head shook, “Never, not with me. The correspondence is directly to his majesty. I only receive the sealed documents.”

“And how often do you receive them?” Erwin pushed. Someone was exited the building.

“Every three months?” Nile guessed, a moment before the soldier called.

“Commander Dok, is everything all right?”

“Can I count on you, Nile?” Erwin pressed. “At the very least to let us escape?”

Nile’s adams apple bobbed with his swallow. “I will be suspected as a traitor.”

“Well we can’t have that,” Erwin confirmed, and then ducked under Nile’s arm to punch him in the face. Like clockwork, the soldier ran inside, shouting for aid and firearms. Nile fired into the sky as Erwin and Levi ran, but Nile’s forces were just as swift. Stone rained to the ground as they rounded a corner, bullets narrowly missing them.

“Up here!” Levi hissed, bounding up a series of stacked crates to the rooftops. Erwin followed easily, sprinting alongside Levi over alleyways and sending roof tiles crashing to the streets below.

“To the ship,” Erwin ordered, but when Levi looked, Erwin was veering in a direction contrary to his words.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” he bellowed, yanking Erwin back by his expensive coat tails. Thrusting his fingers into his mouth, a shrill whistle screamed from Levi’s lips. Moments later, they saw the sails of a ship fall open, his crew scuttling about like spiders in his web. “You’re not fucking in charge here!”

His grip moved to Erwin’s arm should he be tempted to strip off the coat, which he did before they returned to the ground. The red fabric was too bright and visible. On their ship, Eld and Gunther were pulling up the gangplank and simultaneously waving them to come on. Levi and Erwin cleared the jump as the blue of the sky faded to grey and their sails swelled with wind. Dockhands and sailors exclaimed complaints as the wind yanked ropes out of their hands and made carrying heavy cargo dangerous, but Levi’s crew thrived. He shouted orders to them but it was as if the very sky and water obeyed him. He called for the jibs and topsails and no sooner were they unfurled then the wind filled them, pulling them forward as the sea pushed from behind. They were out of the capital within minutes and before the hour was up, downriver and through the tributary.

When only the horizon blocked their path, Levi left the crew to their tasks and went to his cabin to peel off his sodden outer garments. Erwin followed him inside, the wind causing the door to slam shut behind him. Levi whirled around and slapped him across the face. “Levi,” he said in that irritably calm voice of his.

“You a piece of shit,” Levi accused, throwing his jacket at his face. Heavy and full of buttons, it was quite a threat. Erwin caught it but missed the slap of the cravat in his face. “You were ready to go to prison or death and leave all of this shit to me!”

“Levi,” he said again.

“This isn’t a puzzle!” he roared. “This isn’t a _game,_ or a jape, or whatever the fuck you think it is! Nile was right, you’re an idealistic fool and I thought we might all die because of it but it seems you’re ready to sail out of it and leave us on our own!”

“I would never leave you alone, Levi,” he soothed. Rain and waves sprayed against the cabin’s windows. Boots and socks became a part of Levi’s arsenal to throw at him.

“If you consider what you did today a successful bluff, then get the fuck out. You say things expecting to be the smartest man in the room, for no one to understand clearly what you’ve said, but you need to get used to being mediocre at best. You prepared everyone to leave today at a certain time without my knowledge. What did you expect me to do when you weren’t on this ship when we set sail?”

“I’ve never behaved as if I was more intelligent than you,” Erwin thundered, his anger finally rising. “I prepared for the risk I was taking, and I needed you and the others far from the consequences. That doesn’t mean I intended to stay long in prison, and I’ve certainly no intention of dying so soon.”

“You behave as if you have the choice!” Levi’s belt buckle dinged when it landed on the floor, and that was when Erwin struck. A muffled exclamation escaped Levi as Erwin lifted him from the floor and they crashed against the opposite wall. His hands were hard around Levi’s waist but his mouth was soft and plundering against Levi’s. Levi tried to speak but Erwin’s taste was sweet and male, his teeth biting at Levi’s lips as if they were succulent and would burst from too much pressure. Their kiss was sloppy and loud but made Levi want more of this touch. It was so nearly denied him forever.

Erwin’s next kiss was slightly off target on the corner of Levi’s mouth, but he made it the start of a trail across his cheek to his ear. Levi sighed loudly against the tingle and even louder when Erwin heaved him up higher against him, creating friction against Levi’s groin. “I thought…ah! I thought…”

“What did you think, Levi?” Erwin purred wantonly, huskily. It made Levi’s vision blur.

“That you…were too fast. That we were too fast.”

“And now?”

Levi opened his throat for those lips to claim his jaw and neck. “A dumbass stepped in front of a bullet for me.”

His body trembled when Erwin bit the tender flesh of his neck, leaving a string of ripe ovular bites. “I would again.”

Levi swallowed thickly. His arms went around Erwin of their own accord, and his head fell heavily against the joining of Erwin’s neck and shoulder. Erwin stilled, and then eased them off the wall. Holding Levi in his arms, he traversed the room easily despite the tossing of the waves and set Levi on the side of the bed. He made no move to push him away, but listened to Levi say, “That is the problem. Someone will actually fire one day.”

Erwin chuckled, and Levi became so enraged he reared back to slap him again, but Erwin caught his hand and kissed his wrist, his palm. “You forget a crucial fact about our kind. We sing when we kill. We sing for the dead, and I will not sing.”

From where he knelt before him, he leaned up to kiss him again, but Levi’s fingers intercepted his lips. “Isabel and Farlan thought they had more time too.”

This was a blow to Erwin, who remained still for a long moment before he pulled Levi’s hand from him. “You are right. This is not a game. I should have been more mindful during that day. I should have watched over them, sent guards for them, but I didn’t.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Levi ordered sharply. Even though his eyes were heavy, his forehead touched Erwin’s. “Lie to everyone except me. You and the others were too busy with the squid. There were too many. I am not foolish enough to think they could have been saved, but don’t plan as if you are dispensable. This is your goddamn puzzle. You solve it.”

Erwin did not smile, but his features opened; his lips parted and his lashes lowered as if seeing Levi in a dream. He nodded, “I promised you, you weren’t alone, and I mean to keep to what I said. Today was not a bluff. Why did you think I stepped between you and Nile?”

He could feel Levi’s fingers grip the back of his shirt collar. “For some selfish reasons of glory or gallantry. Take these fucking pants off.”

Erwin did smile, then. “Aye,” he breathed, undoing the buttons and sliding the fabric out from under him. “Because I’m selfish, as you said.” He reached up and stroked the pearl on Levi’s ear with his thumb, but Levi’s cheek leaned into his palm. “But not for glory or gallantry. Let everyone believe me a cold fish, but not you. Never you. I’d have you know me by the heat of my skin…”

He pushed Levi backward so he lay across the bed. Levi watched as Erwin also pushed his knees to his chest so his bare ass was in the air.

“…the heat of my mouth…”

Levi gaped in a silent gasp as that tongue plundered his entrance, tasting his skin and insides. Erwin’s fingers dug into the sensitive undersides of his thighs, occasionally rising to plant a wet kiss to an ankle or knee. “Erwin…I can’t wait.”

“You’ll have to, darling,” he defied. Levi trembled as those blue eyes gazed at him from where Erwin licked over his balls and cock. “I am selfish and I will have my way with you.”

But Levi saw the shimmer of scales on Erwin’s hip and soon felt the slickness all over his entrance and erection. He squirmed as Erwin’s fingers spiraled over the head, even more so when he gripped the interior of a thigh as if to hold him steady. Reaching forward, Levi tore Erwin’s shirt as he yanked the man forward. “I am your captain,” he growled. “I want your dick inside me now.”

Erwin grinned, “Aye.”

Meanwhile, Gunther and Eld leaned over to Hange at the ship’s wheel, above which quite a racket was coming from the Captain’s cabin. “What do you think they’re doing in there?”

Hange looked maniacal with her rain-splattered goggles and wild grin. “Erwin is Levi’s cabin boy. What do you think?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are only going to be two more chapters after this one. Thank you for sticking with me this far! <3


	10. Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Erwin arrive back in port to ill tidings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay okay okay okay okay okay this is the SEMI-FINALE. This was going to be the end but I realized the second half of this was going to be far too long for me to edit all together so I'm sorry I waited so long to get this bit to you --- runs away ~~~

Soft suction touched Levi’s throat, his chest. He roused slowly, unwillingly. It wasn’t until his nipples tickled and the slow pulls on his cock made his hips squirm that his eyes glistened up at Erwin. “Mmuh.”

The man chuckled, “Good morning.” Those full lips were soft against his, and Levi’s eyes slid shut once more.

“Mmmh,” Erwin hummed above him, nuzzling his lips and nose. “Don’t return to sleep.”

Levi’s response was a deep exhale and nothing else. He felt Erwin’s chest rumble against his as he murmured, “Levi. Are you abandoning me to my morning labors?”

Levi’s voice was breathy as he uttered, “Is or is not the sun in the sky?

He chuckled again. “It is not.”

“Are we home yet?” Levi continued, his eyes closed as Erwin littered his torso with soft, open kisses.

“We have anchored,” he confirmed, giving a nipple a lick.

“So my consciousness is not required—or-ahm…”

Erwin’s tongue swirled tight coils against the well of Levi’s penis, the pad of a thumb mercilessly massaging the nerves under the head. “Er-Erwin! You’re too active at dawn…”

He felt Erwin’s chuckle within his very throat, the vibrations trembling all the way through Levi’s ass to his tailbone. His palm found those blond tresses the same moment two fingers slid inside of him. “Erwin—hhah!”

A wet slurp sounded in the darkness as Erwin pulled off of him but remained inside, playing with Levi’s prostate to find just how he liked to be touched. His lips and tongue made slow, lewd sounds against his balls, lulling Levi into a state hanging between orgasm and tranquility. His hips rocked with the drags of Erwin’s fingers, his breath shuddering in his throat. “Faster.”

The pace never changed. “Erwin? Are you listening to me?”

“Always.”

“Then…do more,” he sighed.

“Like?”

Levi sputtered angrily, “What do you mean, ‘like’? You—” he growled, knowing what Erwin wanted. “Fuck you. You know what I like. Just do it.”

Suddenly Erwin was hovering over him, his arms planted on either side of Levi’s head. “For being descended from fish, you are not a morning creature.”

Levi’s eyes were deadpan as they landed on Erwin’s cock, followed by his hand. The man above him grunted and followed its pull so his pelvis rested over Levi’s. “Don’t wake me up if you’re not going to make use of my time.”

Erwin’s lips grazed over his. His breath tickled Levi’s cheeks. “Aye, Captain.”

But Levi felt far from superior as Erwin plundered his mouth. Pushing his lips wide, Erwin’s tongue tasted him and claimed his breath. Levi felt the ache in his groin throbbing like his heartbeat in his ears. The sounds of Erwin’s kisses seemed far away as he once again fell into the hanging abyss that was pleasure and peace…a place Levi realized he had once feared but did no longer.

“You’re playing with me,” he heard himself whisper when Erwin lifted to give him air.

“And why wouldn’t I?” Erwin hummed, leaving soft, wet kisses across his cheeks and hairline. “This is what partners do, Levi.”

“Oh.”

He felt Erwin’s smile against his ear, and then a hand behind one of his knees. Levi did not realize his eyes had sagged nearly closed until his head tipped back as Erwin’s length began to fill him. Levi’s jaw slacked open and his eyes closed fully, relishing the pressure inside of him and the abrupt push to his prostate. Erwin kissed under his jaw, again on his throat, slowly pumping inside. Levi's arms found their way up to hang past Erwin’s shoulders, allowing one of Erwin’s arms to slide under his shoulder blades. A hand came to be under Levi’s nape, gently pulling Levi’s head to allow Erwin a different angle for kissing him. Levi let himself be repositioned like a rag doll, but he met Erwin’s kisses and felt the man’s ragged exhales every time he pushed inside and Levi squeezed him.

Levi’s fingertips drifted like dandelion seeds over Erwin’s backside before finding the curves of his ass. His touch was light, enjoying the groggy weakness in his limbs during the love they shared this early in the dawn. Erwin’s thrusts rocked him over the sheets, neither fast nor hard, but deep and eager. His breath shuddered as Levi’s fingertips slithered back up his spine, his arms crossing over his shoulder blades. His orgasm was slowly building, but he let it, nibbling on Erwin’s lip as his breath quickened.

Erwin ducked to lick up his throat, and then along his lips which parted as Levi trembled and came; not as intensely as his other orgasms had been but this was longer, the tremors drawn out and quaking within him long enough for Erwin to fall into his own climax. His nose pressed against Levi’s as they rode out their pleasure in one another.

As far as Levi was concerned, he rolled over so he was partially on top of Erwin, his leg flung over the merman and quite content to finish sleeping. But Erwin’s fingers dragged paisley designs across his spine, as if sex gave him energy. “I need to go into town.”

Levi sighed across his chest, bidding a final farewell to slumber. He rolled in the other direction, setting his feet on the floor and reaching for his garments strewn across the room. To his surprise and perplexity, Erwin exited before him and lowered the dinghy to row them to shore. Whether it was accredited to Erwin’s gallantry or the desire to not have Levi touch the water, it was too early to contemplate.

Upon entering town, it was Levi’s resigned reality that Kenny had already restaffed the Underground Inn. The structure was nearly finished being renovated since the flood but they passed by it. Erwin parted from him in the direction of what appeared to be the postal station, while Hange, Petra, and Oluo intercepted his path to Kenny’s house.

“Guess who’s already en route to report for duty?” Hange chimed, waving an official document in the air. “Fresh from the post, Captains Bertolt Hoover and Reiner Braun should be making their appearance here in a few days.”

Oluo’s gaze wandered over the town. “Should we make efforts to have this place looking more like a king’s port?”

“We don’t have the gold leaf to spare,” Levi declined immediately as he looked over the letters.

“Nor the hands,” Petra concluded, but that sparked something in Hange.

“Wait…you have a point. Where is everyone?”

One of Levi’s brows lifted, but before he could make a retort he knew they were right. He had accredited the early hour for the harbor’s lack of habitation but the sun was now in the sky…and hardly anyone was here. Even the scaffolding around the Underground Inn was vacant.

Levi folded the letters and handed them back to Hange as he saw Erwin striding back down the street. “Who’s working at the post?” he barked without preamble.

Erwin read his tone and answered seriously, “One by the name of Nanaba, Mike’s spouse. I made sure one of my own was there to accept important documents.”

Levi left them to march toward Kenny’s house. Whether they followed or not was up to them, but upon arrival…the house was empty. Back outside, he found Hange and Petra were still with him. The latter informed, “Erwin and Oluo went to find Mike. Someone should have noticed anything abnormal. We’ll use his nose.”

Levi left that up to them. There were only a couple places Kenny would take Mikasa: Eren’s home and the way station inn they had used during the flood. The first was nearby, but Levi felt his feet move swiftly over the flagstones, and then running over the cobbles.

This was why no one had noticed. Eren’s house was tucked within an avenue of buildings facing the forest instead of the sea.

The house was in shambles. The door was open. Levi kicked it wide and bellowed, “JAEGER. ARMIN.”

There was a _yip!_ of sound that drew his gaze upstairs, where Mikasa emerged on the topmost stair. Levi took the stairs two at a time and knelt on the second-to-last, eye level with Mikasa and the large blue eyes peeking around the corner. She held Armin's hand and pulled him beside her. Levi pushed the ink strands off her face, looking for injuries but instead he found blank, dead eyes. Swollen, indigo flesh hung beneath her lashes. Levi had seen the same symptoms on his own face but he had not seen this expression on her since he pulled her out of a ship’s cargo chest.

He turned to Armin, who was trembling but coherent. “What’s happened?”

A levee broke and tears soaked his cheeks. “They took Eren! And-and his mom’s—!”

“Who did?” he asked calmly. “What did they look like?”

And then Armin threw himself against Levi, who caught the child out of instinct but found himself consumed by blond hair and various fluids. “They-they took him! They killed his mom!” he wailed. “C-C-Captain Levi!”

“All right, all right,” he hushed, mechanically steeling his arms around the boy as well as Mikasa. The pair of them were light in his arms as he stood. “Where’s Mrs. Jaeger? Eren’s father?”

Armin sniffled loudly. “T-T-The…” He pointed instead, to what Levi guessed was the direction of the kitchen. “I d-don’t know ab-bout Mr. Jaeg-gar.”

Levi glanced down the stairs where Hange motioned with her arms to bob them up and down. Levi did so, and began to feel Armin relax against him. Mikasa sat statuesquely on his arm. “What did they look like, Armin. Tell me everything from the beginning.”

If this were any other occasion, Armin rubbing his leaking face on Levi’s shirt would have been an utter horror, but Levi refrained from speaking as Armin began, “W-We were playing. Mrs. Jaeger was baking biscuits for us—the door opened. We thought it was Dr. Jaeger but…he was wet.”

Levi frowned. “Wet?”

“Like he’d been swimming. A-And he was…naked. His hair was black and he had two earrings…like yours,” Armin realized, fingering Levi’s gold hoop. Armin jerked his hand back as if Levi had burned him. He knew it was his current expression but he could not pretend as if he was not livid.

_Would that bastard have…yes. Of course he would._ Farlan and Isabelle had never gotten a proper burial.

“What else,” he pushed. His voice was calmer than he felt; dark velvet.

Armin chewed his bottom lip. “Mikasa hid me but…we heard Mrs. Jaeger scream…and…fall. Eren was already gone.”

“Did he say anything? Anything at all?”

“J-Just…” Armin seemed hesitant and afraid. Levi dreaded the boy’s intelligence that enabled him to understand the significance of what he heard. “He said… _This should make up for the lost…”_

“Lost what, Armin?” Levi growled. He needed to hear it.

“Funds,” he all but whispered.

Levi traversed the stairs and pushed past Hange and Petra, but not without murmuring to the latter, “There is a body in the kitchen. Give her a proper burial.”

“What else?” Hange asked while reaching for the children, but Levi realized he was holding on to them just as tightly as they were to him.

“When Erwin and Mike arrive…everything stops. I don’t care what schemes Erwin has enacted. We get Eren back. Tonight.”

Hange’s hands hovered in the air, her fingers wiggling. “Er…tonight. Like… _tonight,_ tonight?”

“Do you need to check your almanac?” he rumbled.

“Captain,” she said measuredly, “it’s too obvious if we act this immediately.”

“He wants me to act immediately,” he countered. “He’s getting impatient, so I’ll meet him.”

“Meet him?” Hange appeared dubious. “What do you mean, ‘meet him’?”

“Exactly what I said!” Levi barked. “If he’s smart he won’t harm Eren.”

Hange grimaced. “With all due respect, Captain, this is the bloke who sent a flood into town to wipe out everyone you hold dear. I don’t think he gives two shits abo—OW!”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” he ordered, gripping Mikasa and Armin close despite having kicked her shins. “Give Jaeger’s mother a burial. I’ll handle the rest.”

One of her brows lifted. “With or without consulting Erwin about it?”

His countenance darkened, if that was possible. “Who is your captain?”

Her eyes rolled. “You are, you dumb shit. Which makes it my duty to kick you in the ass. Wait for Erwin, all right? Just do that much, at least.”

Levi’s jaw was steel, but so was Hange’s gaze. She reached out and softly stroked Armin’s hair. Somehow, it was less of a soothing gesture to the boy and more of a bullet to Levi’s sternum. This situation was delicate. Too delicate to make even the slightest mistake.

He needed Erwin.

Levi swallowed thickly, the backs of his eyes and throat aching. Something akin to sickness squirmed inside him, his head swimming like he had stood too quickly. He felt as if he might retch as his blood rushed through his veins, stealing his breath. Large droplets fell against his cheeks, soft and cold. Levi blinked and realized he had walked past Hange to stand outside.

He was surrounded by his crew.

How much time had passed?

It could only have been seconds but everyone was gathered around him, and Erwin stood with Mike before him. Every nerve in Levi was oversensitive as he watched Erwin take Mikasa from his arms. He held her close, protected in his long, strong arms. Levi wanted to be there; a childish need ached fiercely inside him as one of Erwin’s palms came to rest on his cheek, cradling his face.

“We’re here, Levi,” he purred. “We feel you and we heed you. You’re not alone.”

Before his very eyes, his crew put their fists over their hearts. _“Captain,”_ they said in unison.

“Unwilling Prince,” Erwin teased around a smile, gently wiping a raindrop that had caught on Levi’s lashes with his thumb. “The ocean and all of her subjects are under your protection, and Mike has good news.”

Mike came forward, looking smug. “This house, and therefore the boy, smells like the girl, Annie; like that Bertolt and Reiner. Eren is a hidden mer-citizen.”

Levi blinked. “He can…”

Mike nodded once. “If anything like drowning is attempted, it will fail. Eren’s instincts will consume him. He’ll be fine.”

Erwin smiled. Mikasa in his arms seemed to be rousing out of her stupor. “It makes sense why he was so drawn to you. He feels your power, and we will get him back. This action has already spread among the mer-people. They are not happy this skirmish has extended so personally to children.”

Levi grimaced. “As if their own weren’t bothered by war?”

Erwin twisted unconsciously, swaying Mikasa until she softened against him, her head sagging against his neck. “People can easily ignore war if they cannot see it. Eren has changed everything.”

Levi’s eyes glistened heavily. “It doesn’t matter if he can breathe underwater, Erwin, nor how stubborn he is. He’s too small for this now.”

“So were you as I’ve heard it,” Petra said from his right. “We all grew up with stories of how the boy prince killed men twice his size.”

“He does take after you,” Erwin seconded. “I wouldn’t doubt it if he was raising a storm himself. I’ll send a bird directly to Nile. In the meanwhile we will set sail.”

“It needs to be today,” Levi halted. “It needs to be today.”

Erwin’s frown was clearly etched on his face. Levi knew what he was going to say, so he spoke first. “You don’t know the situation Eren is in right now. The men who would buy him…they don’t wait. And _he’s_ not in a position to let the few followers he has left not get what they want. This has to be today.”

Erwin’s eyes burned, pained and angry. His head turned for his gaze to be sent far away, but after a long minute of thought, he nodded once with solemnity. “I am the strongest swimmer here. I can get up river to the capital in some hours. I will arrange our octopi along the route so Mike will receive updates as Nile and I arrange a plan. We must assume the king will be able to sense Eren's ability, but it is easier to keep a secret on land. However he is also weaker out of water. We can use this.”

“You’ll need Pixis,” Mike stated.

He nodded again. “You’re right.”

“Who's Pixis?” Levi interrupted.

“Someone with even more power underwater than I do,” Erwin introduced, “and just as much influence on land. Technically he’s in charge of keeping the aquatic world and terrestrial realms separate.”

“Tff,” Levi scoffed. “He’s doing a shit job of it.”

A glint of mirth returned to Erwin’s eyes. “Actually, he’s been single handedly keeping this war under the waves. I and the people here have been a bit of an undermining resource; Pixis outright never wanted to involve you.”

Levi grimaced. “Should I kiss his boot?”

Erwin laughed. “He’s not the sort for that. But he respects children and he would have kept you one for as long as possible. He also abhors slavery or trafficking of any kind. He will be my first stop. But I’m afraid the worst deed is up to you. You will have to wait for me, Levi.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. He would have to…just be here? Feeling useless? “For how long?” his jaw clenched.

Erwin calculated, “Thankfully it’s still early. I should return by twilight—Please, Levi.”

His face had twisted in outrage. “I’m to do _nothing,_ for twelve hours?”

_“Please, Levi,”_ Erwin hushed. “Bury Eren’s mother. Keep these kids calm and distracted. Protect yourself. And trust me. I know this is unlike anything you’ve ever done, but we must be willing to take big risks. Unless we change how we fight, we cannot win. This time, you must be patient and trust me.”

Levi was tense and Erwin could feel this. He pressed his forehead to Levi’s, holding his gaze. “I can feel the blood in your veins. I feel your tides as strongly as the ocean’s. I can feel how much you love the boy. I know how you mourned Isabelle and Farlan. If you begin to regret, you’ll dull your future potential and decisions. I need you as sharp as you’ve ever been. Wait for me.”

Levi swallowed thickly. “If you’re not back under an orange sky, I’m setting sail.”

Erwin did not kiss him. Every second lost could not be returned. So he set Mikasa on her feet, and he left with Mike.

Petra stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on Levi’s free shoulder. “We will sing for her. For them.”

Of course Levi knew what she meant and yet the numbness shielded the obvious meaning at first. Kenny stood a ways off, far enough away to not hear much but close enough to have answered Levi’s voiceless summons. While his crew solemnly went into the Jaeger house, Kenny approached and took the children off his hands. Mikasa’s fingers quickly caught on Levi’s shirt. Armin was more vocal, uttering half-words of surprise and complaints. “Wha-no!”

“Hush,” Levi silenced. “You shouldn’t be here for this.”

Kenny silently handled the children while Levi went inside to prepare the body. He had never actually done this. On the ocean, you wrapped them up in canvas and chains with canon balls so they sank and never returned. Levi had never actually met Eren’s mother but Eren had clearly been born from her, sharing every feature apart from his turquoise eyes.

Levi cleaned it all: her nails, her hair, her toes. All but the places he had no right to be. Petra brushed her hair while Hange clothed her in garments the others had been busy airing out. Oluo, Gunther, and Eld had gone to the beach. There they erected a flat pyre from whatever dry wood existed; a good bit of tinder, lush foliage, and fabric made it appear fluffier and more colorful than a funeral pyre probably ought to be.

Levi carried her there. The men had returned and Eld had stepped forward to do it but Levi gestured against it. She was big in his arms but not any heavier than the two children had been. She had been wrapped in a calico blanket to make it easier. Blue and green and brown.

As soon as his boots sank into the white sand, he heard it. A low hum. It was slow and stirring, but his crew started at different times. Far from sounding disjointed, the song reverberated as if more people than there were had risen their voices. It cloaked around him, sinking into his skin like silk or water. He set her down and Hange scraped flint and steel together. The sparks were orange and white, the flames small and smoking.

Kenny, Mikasa, and Armin stood by the tree line when Levi glanced back. 

The pyre lit slowly but the smoke was swift, great waves of smoke rising in their faces with the breeze before the flames engorged and wrapped around her. He didn’t want to smell it. Didn’t want Armin or Mikasa to smell it: the aroma that stuck inside the lungs. Of hair burning. Skin.

Levi took a deep breath, and begged the sea to call her winds back. The breeze changed, the flames and smoke bowing away from them. Their song continued, stirring inside him like fingers making water trill.

A small hand slid into his. Mikasa. He knew without looking, but he did anyway. Armin was on her other side, holding her hand with his other hand to his mouth.

She was humming.

She ran out of breath and her little mouth panted for a moment before she lost her voice to the song again. He wondered if she was aware she was doing it. Her gaze was far away, drifting over Mrs. Jaeger and the horizon, but when his own baritone thrummed inside his chest, she looked up at him. His grip tightened slightly, fusing their palms together.

He felt power here. In her. In himself. Amplified together. He had never understood his peculiarities as an Ackerman, and Kenny, the shithead, had never bothered to explain more than necessary. But Levi understood why. This was like describing love. You only knew when you had it, held it in your very hands.

Levi loved Erwin. His chest ached fiercely as if he had been holding a barrier against the truth for too long; like the first breath after holding it underwater for so long. He loved him. And if that bastard was not back by sundown…

* * *

He did not make it.

Levi stared at the orange orb sinking lower in the sky, casting purple throughout the clouds as Nile Dok emerged from the sea.

His crew around him shifted, various feelings of curiosity and anger rippling through them. Hange sat with Mikasa’s head slumbering on her thigh, but she uttered softly, “Well, well…”

Levi stood and approached him. The man had retained a surprising amount of muscle despite his desk job. Nonetheless, Levi was grateful for the robe Gunther had ready for _Erwin._

“Where the hell is he?”

Remarkably, Nile looked less enthused to be here than Levi was angry at having him here. He jerkily pulled the robe around him, peering at the man he would have otherwise shot if it hadn’t been for _Erwin._

“Technically, he is in my custody— _wait!"_

Levi already had a long knife to his throat while the crew was on their feet, apart from Hange, who let Mikasa sleep. Behind Levi, she huffed, “So Erwin’s plan is to use your connection to the king at the sacrifice of himself. You’ll deliver him like poisoned dinner?”

“He’s earning you more time,” Nile barked when Levi’s blade only pressed deeper. “As well as gaining you a resource within.”

Levi grimaced darkly, jerking the blade away, causing Nile to jump against the tiny sliver of a cut. “He’s supposed to be _smart—_ ”

“This is the best option we have!” Nile smarted. “I’ve already sent word to the king. The fool has let word of his theft wander even over land! I can use my position to make him hand the boy over. He cannot have the boy while he is out of his kingdom, but he doesn't really need him, anyway! He’s to wait in the waters of a cove at the mouth of the capital’s river with the boy to trade for Erwin.”

Nile’s eyes watched the blade twirl lithely in Levi’s grip. He knew what cove Nile meant: a slim crevasse between two cliff faces. It had a small shore but overall it was shaped like a spoon: a round swimming hole with a skinny outlet to the sea. Perhaps a slim sloop could fit in the opening of the cove, but not without bumps and scrapes from being sandwiched between the cliffs.

“The cove where pirates drown in the land king’s justice,” Levi growled. “Those who don’t have a name you can hang like a welcome sign. A warning to the rest.”

The bags under Nile’s eyes darkened. “We stopped that practice. Not a single pirate has been hanged to rot while I’ve been in control of it.”

“He’ll never enter the cove,” Levi switched. “Not with that opening. His largest squid can’t get in to protect him and even if they did, it’s a pit for slaughter. It’s obviously a trap.”

“We’ve used it before,” Nile refused. His next expression was one of a man unwilling to reveal his involvement. “I ran from the ocean and he still found a way to threaten my family. But I never trusted him or liked his methods. His arrogance allowed me to use the cove where I could deliver his funds. It actually makes sense to us it now.”

Levi pushed air through his nose. “Not much of a choice, is it? What are we to do? Wait in the cove for him to arrive?”

“Yes. Of course this means you will have to be incredibly discrete. He cannot know you are anywhere near the capital or the mouth of the river.”

“Obviously,” Levi growled. “What else?”

Nile visibly shivered. “He’s coming for Erwin tomorrow evening.”

Levi felt the corner of his lip twitch. “That’s hardly more time—”

A musical chortle jerked his attention to Marie in the shallows, her slick flesh reflecting the pinks and oranges of the sunset while her legs blended seamlessly with the blue ink of the ocean around her. Levi’s expression began to relax as he heard Oluo call from behind him.

“Evening, Captain! Look who just arrived in town.”

Bertolt and Reiner looked less than enthused after long days of travel, and even less so at the site of the crew on the beach. “This isn’t a naval port,” Bertolt blurted before he shared a look with Reiner.

Oluo slapped his hands on their shoulders to push them forward. “A different kind of military,” he smirked. “Are you pleased to be reunited with your ships?”

“You stole them,” Reiner uttered in a monotone.

“Borrowed them permanently,” Oluo reiterated. “Now, obviously you are in a predicament that requires a decision on your part. You are no longer a part of his majesty’s navy, but _that man_ is not the sort to force you into his service.”

They cast dubious glances at Levi.

“Don’t let his size fool you. You have three choices: do what you have been trained to do, voluntarily eliminate yourself from our list of problems, or you can be prisoners here for the rest of your days. The weather is pleasant all year but we have a bit of a chore to deal with, and your services will be used whether you like it or not.”

"That's no choice at all," Reiner complained.

Oluo removed his hands and gave them space to consider. No words passed between either of them, but after a time Bertolt said, “We never joined the military to serve a king.”

Levi’s face remained impassive but he marked those words for later contemplation. …to serve _a_ king…not _the_ king. The lack of a specified loyalty made Levi sure these two were going to be an issue later.

“We raised ourselves in the ranks so we wouldn’t take orders,” Reiner seconded.

Oluo guffawed, returning his arms around their necks. His strength was jarring and Bertolt’s height was yanked down to Oluo’s. Compared to his sun-weathered skin, they truly looked like children. “You’ve always taken orders, lads, it was just easier to think you weren’t when you were surrounded by blue seas and skies. This is a significantly better arrangement. Your own ships. They sway awfully lonely, don’t they?”

“This isn’t a choice,” Reiner repeated gruffly. His youth made it sound more like a harrumph than the growl he intended.

“’Course it is!” Oluo chimed. “The choice comes after you help us.”

His words faded as the youths eyed Levi approaching them. He felt their eyes wander over him, calculating and clearly appraising his height and willowy limbs. To Nile, he called, “Where is Mike?”

“With Erwin,” Nile informed. “Having the rebel leader and second in command was the bait needed to attract him.”

Mike had said these two were…special. Aquatic in some way. Levi looked Reiner first in his eyes. Were they ignorant of this like Eren was? Levi doubted it, but he did not know the extent of their abilities and felt inclined to hide his own until then. “How does your ship sail?”

Reiner blinked, clearly expecting something far from this. “The rigging locks below deck.”

Levi frowned. “A crew is required above as well as below?”

“Yes. You do not have the numbers.” It was not meant as an insult, a simple fact. Levi had always preferred a minimalist crew, but they were for one ship, not a fleet.

He looked to Bertolt next. “The tallest one is yours,” Levi guessed. “The canons on her are different.”

For a moment the youth seemed ready to remain silent. Then, “She doesn’t fire iron. The weapons are for liquid propulsion.”

“Acids and liquid cement,” Levi guessed.

“Steam,” Bertolt revised. “Chemicals are too heavy and expensive. It’s easier just to suck up water and send it back boiling.”

“How environmentally considerate,” Oluo japed to no one. Levi had glanced to the fleet but saw Nile eyeing the ships with…familiarity.

“What are you thinking?”

“Those ships…he’ll recognize them.”

Levi’s dark stare did not falter. “Why?”

“He always brought his squid, so we used those ships in particular to keep the balance. The aqua canons can be just as much of a threat to creatures as to men, while the sides of the armored ship can cut through tentacles like butter. He often tried to bargain the vessels from me but not with much conviction. He could use the money more than the ships.”

“So it would not be a surprise to him to see these ships there tomorrow evening,” Levi concluded.

“No,” Nile understood. “Not at all.”

Levi turned back to Reiner and Bertolt, the latter exclaiming, “But—both of them? How will one crew get both of them—”

Levi had moved down the sand, close enough for Marie to wrap her arms around his ankles fondly. He did not look back to know the other krakens had revealed themselves. The evidence was in the boys’ wide eyes already.

“Did you think the sea was empty?” Levi sassed.

Oluo chuckled. “Welcome to your first assignment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS ISH HAS FANART Y'ALLLLLLLLLLLL
> 
> [THANK YOU ONGZORI <3 <3 <3 ](http://ongzori.tumblr.com/post/160767749627/inspired-by-such-an-amazing-fic-literally-an-epic)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Ko-fi page! Buy me a cyber coffee at ko-fi.com/pondermoniums
> 
> Or you can visit me on [Tumblr](http://pondermoniums.tumblr.com/) or I'm more active on my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Pondermoniums)


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